Nagaland tops in TB elimination programme

Our Correspondent
Kohima, June 25 (EMN): Nagaland is among the best performing states under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) in the year 2019, as per the India TB report 2020, released by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan along with Ashwin Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, through a virtual event on June 24.

Ministry of Health India updated a tweet mentioning the states and Union Territories that performed best under NTEP and lauded them. As per the update, Nagaland and Tripura were under the category of best performing states with population of less than 50 lakh.

Gujurat, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh were under the category of best performing states with a population of more than 50 lakh. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were stated as the best performing Union territories in the annual TB report 2020.

Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, in his tweet posted on June 25 stated: “Congratulations to the Mission Director, State Programme Officer and staff of @NagalandNhm on coming 2nd for Best performing Small State under National Tb elimination Program in the year 2019 @TbDivision.”

“I laud their commendable work towards TB diagnosis and treatment in the state,” he added.

The annual report stated that around 24.04 lakh TB patients have been notified in 2019 which amounted to 14% increase in TB as compared to the year 2018, and private sector notifications increased by 35% with 6.78 lakh TB patients notified. Due to easy availability of molecular diagnostics, the proportion of children diagnosed with TB increased to 8% in 2019 compared to 6% in 2018.

Releasing the annual TB report, Vardhan commended the collective efforts of all who were involved in the task and expressed that the ranking will surely encourage all the states and UTs to improve their performance to attain their targets, citing that early accurate diagnosis followed by prompt appropriate treatment is vital for ending TB. He also stated that NTEP has expanded both the laboratory network as well as diagnostic facilities to cover the entire country.

“To end TB by 2015, expansion of TB services and addressing determinants of TB that are beyond health, through a multi-sectoral approach is necessary. All these efforts are yielding significant results,” he stated.

“We as a nation, need to come together to fight TB and the stigma surrounding it so that every TB patient can seek care with dignity and without discrimination. The wellspring of support and comfort for the patient”, he shared highlighting about the stigma against TB patients in the country.

Ashwin Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family welfare said. “The government has already incorporated a community-based response for TB as one of the key strategies to reach the unreached and to support TB patients in the course of their families. Towards this end, over 700 TB Forums have been established at the State/UT and District level involving all stakeholders. These TB forums will provide a multi-sectoral and community-led response to addressing the challenge of TB.”