QUICK TAKE | India’s TB Mortality Fell 38%. How Far Is It From Ending TB? Seven Things to Know
1. What does the 38% figure mean?
It’s the decline in India’s estimated tuberculosis mortality between 2015 and 2025. The health ministry puts the death rate at about 18 per lakh people in 2025, down from about 28 in 2015. It cites a global mortality decline of 35% over the same period.
2. What changed in how India looks for TB?
The government expanded screening among people at higher risk, including those who might never have visited a clinic with a cough or fever. From December 2024 to November 2026, the campaign covered more than 25 crore people and conducted over 11 crore chest X-rays and 3 crore molecular tests, the ministry says.
3. Why do the 15 lakh cases without symptoms matter?
Of the 48.64 lakh cases detected during the campaign, 14.97 lakh were in people who showed no symptoms. Finding them through screening gives health workers a chance to start treatment sooner and reduce the risk of further transmission.
4. What does AI do in a TB screening drive?
AI helps flag suspicious findings on portable chest X-rays so health workers can prioritise people for further testing. Rapid molecular tests can detect the bacterium and, depending on the test, identify resistance to key drugs.
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5. Who does the 94% treatment success rate cover?
The figure applies to patients treated for drug-susceptible TB. Drug-resistant TB requires different medicines, so its treatment outcomes are tracked separately.
6. What support do patients get after diagnosis?
The Ni-kshay platform helps health workers track patients and follow their treatment. Eligible patients receive nutritional assistance through Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana, while volunteers known as Ni-kshay Mitras provide additional community support.
7. How far is India from ending TB?
The WHO’s global targets for 2030 are a 90% reduction in the number of TB deaths and an 80% cut in the rate of new cases, both from 2015 levels. India’s mortality decline tracks one part of that goal. The other is how quickly fewer people develop TB in the first place.