USAID announces USD 1 million support for Ending Tuberculosis Epidemic in India

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) on 29 November 2017 announced USD 1 million support for Ending Tuberculosis (TB) Epidemic in India and to raise TB awareness to help India in its fight against TB.

Through this support, the agency aims to hold up to PM Modi's goal of securing a TB-free India by 2025.

Tuberculosis in India
• India has the world's highest incidence of Tuberculosis with 2.8 million cases annually, and accounts for more than a quarter of the global TB burden.
• India also has the largest burden of Multi-Drug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) among all countries with almost 150000 cases every year.
• TB claims over 435000 lives in India each year, which places TB among the top ten causes of death in the country.
• TB disproportionately affects women as women, diagnosed with TB, report that their families, employers and communities discriminate against them.

Union Health Ministry introduces Daily Drug Regimen for treatment of Tuberculosis

USAID/India's TB program
• USAID has been supporting the TB program of the Union Government since 1998.
• It has invested more than USD 140 million to strengthen the capacity of national, State, and District-level TB programs.
• It introduced new tools and approaches to reach, cure, and prevent TB in India successfully.
• The USAID/India TB program aims to strengthen the detection and treatment of TB; assist the government in planning evidence-based interventions to reach a TB-Free India and improve patient-centred TB services.
• Under USAID/India's TB program, rapid diagnostic tool GeneXpert has been developed to diagnose TB in children along with the introduction of bedaquiline, the first new drug to treat TB in people of more than 40 years age.
• The program has partnered with the 'Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation' and the 'India Knowledge Park' to improve obedient treatment among patients.

India tops list of new tuberculosis cases in 2016: WHO

About US Agency for International Development (USAID)
• USAID is a leading United States entity for international TB programming.
• It is the largest bilateral funder of TB efforts worldwide.
• It works in partnership with Ministries of Health, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), WHO, Stop TB Partnership and civil society to reach every person with TB and cure those in need of treatment.
• It also works to prevent new TB infections through a patient-centered approach aimed at saving lives.