India’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme set a 2025 elimination target, five years ahead of the SDG 3.3 deadline, yet WHO estimates India accounted for 26 percent of global TB cases in 2023. Examine the public-health design and the gaps.
Subtopic: Social Justice · Health
How to structure your answer
Introduction: The National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), renamed from RNTCP in 2020, pursues India's 2025 elimination target under the National Strategic Plan 2017-25.
Body: Three dimensions — (i) Architecture: Ni-kshay digital surveillance, Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana cash transfer of Rs 1,000 per month (raised in 2024) for nutritional support, free first-line and second-line drugs, BPaL/BPaLM oral regimen for MDR-TB; (ii) Burden: WHO Global TB Report 2024 — India had about 28 lakh TB cases and 3.15 lakh TB deaths in 2023, 26 percent of global incidence; MDR/RR-TB notifications around 75,000; (iii) Gaps: private-sector notification under-coverage, latent-TB infection screening only nascent, stock-outs of pediatric formulations and HIV-TB co-infection management.
Way forward / Conclusion: Universal active case finding in slums and tribal pockets, mandatory private-sector notification with conditional cash, and integration with PM-JAY for catastrophic-cost protection.
Written within the word limit
135 words · target 150 words · 9 min
Introduction: The National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), renamed from RNTCP in 2020 under Article 47, pursues India's 2025 elimination target — five years ahead of SDG 3.3 — through the National Strategic Plan 2017-25.
Body: Three dimensions evaluate the programme. First, architecture — Ni-kshay digital surveillance, Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana cash transfer of Rs 1,000 per month (raised in 2024) for nutritional support, free first- and second-line drugs, and BPaL/BPaLM oral regimens for MDR-TB shorten treatment to six months. Second, residual burden — WHO Global TB Report 2024 estimates India had about 28 lakh cases and 3.15 lakh deaths in 2023, accounting for 26 percent of global incidence; MDR/RR-TB notifications stand near 75,000. Third, gaps — under-notification by the private sector, paediatric stock-outs, HIV-TB co-infection management and latent-TB screening lag.
Conclusion: Universal active case-finding in slums and tribal pockets, mandatory private-sector notification with conditional cash, and PM-JAY linkage for catastrophic-cost protection.
What an examiner expects to see
- NTEP under National Strategic Plan 2017-25; 2025 elimination target (incidence below 1 per lakh)
- WHO Global TB Report 2024 — India about 28 lakh cases, 3.15 lakh deaths in 2023, 26 percent of global burden
- Ni-kshay portal for case notification; Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana DBT raised to Rs 1,000/month (November 2024)
- BPaL/BPaLM oral regimen approved for DR-TB (2024)
- MDR/RR-TB notifications about 75,000; AIDS-TB co-infection management under NACO-NTEP convergence
- Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (September 2022) — Ni-kshay Mitra community adoption
- 100 Days Intensified TB Campaign launched December 2024 in 347 high-burden districts
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan
- Ni-kshay Mitra programme
- BPaL/BPaLM regimen for MDR-TB
- 100 Days Intensified TB Campaign (December 2024)
- Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (DBT to TB patients)