Hon’ble Minister of Health, Dr Harsh Vardhan; Director General Health Services and other staff of the Ministry of Health; Members of the TB Technical Support Network,
My thanks to the Hon’ble Health Minister, to whom goes the credit of organizing this meeting. It is a privilege to address you today.
Let me begin by underlining the critical importance of your work. Since 1999 this Network has facilitated the full-scale implementation of WHO-recommended strategies; accelerated the achievement of country-wide TB service coverage; fortified TB surveillance through the NIKSHAY initiative; and promoted the establishment of TB-free district and state projects under India’s ambitious National Strategic Plan.
To this can be added the Hon’ble Health Minister’s initiative, making it a people’s movement through the TB Mukt Bharat Campaign.
You are the tip of the spear in our quest to end TB in India, the South-East Asia Region and the world. And today, that quest – which is one of the Region’s eight Flagship Priorities – is at a critical juncture.
Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, India was making rapid and sustained progress on TB, accelerated by the 2018 Delhi End TB Summit, which was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi himself. India has adopted the extraordinary goal of ending TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target.
In 2019 some 2.4 million TB case notifications were recorded, which was up 12% from the previous year.
Between 2016 and 2018 India’s domestic TB budget more than quadrupled, from US$ 105 million to US$ 458 million.
At the beginning of 2020 India aimed to achieve 2.9 million TB case notifications, reaching almost 15% of that target in the first two months alone – a 6% increase on the corresponding months of the previous year.
But the emergence and spread of COVID-19 had a significant impact on essential health services, including for TB, as it did in TB-affected countries across the world.
In April, case notification dipped to 60% – an alarming figure that if sustained would have set us back years. However, thanks to the rapid action of the Health Minister, India was able to quickly revive and maintain TB services, recording a total of 1.8 million TB case notifications for the year, equating to around 75% of the previous year’s tally.
I take this opportunity to commend the tremendous work of TB programme staff, supported by the Technical Support Network, to continue to find, test and treat TB throughout the pandemic, while also responding to the pandemic itself. Throughout the response, NTP staff and Network members have provided high-end technical support in planning, logistic forecasting, surveillance and contact tracing, and have also carried out trainings and aided vaccination preparation.
As India’s unprecedented vaccination campaign proceeds, I urge Network members to continue to help strengthen the basic public health measures that have slowed the spread and saved lives in all corners of this country from the beginning of the pandemic.
But we must also now catch up and reclaim the advantage against TB, for which I join the Health Minister’s call for a Jan Andolan and reiterate WHO’s commitment to achieving a TB Mukt Bharat.
Today, I have three messages for the many members of the Network gathered here.
First, keep your eye on the goal and be relentless in your efforts to achieve it.
Through the GATIMAN initiative, your mission is to disseminate knowledge and to support NTP counterparts in their efforts to adopt and integrate it into policy planning and implementation.
I am certain you will rise to the challenge and achieve more than anyone can imagine.
Second, identify areas where you can leverage and apply your value, for example in the roll-out of WHO-recommended diagnostics and treatments that are shorter and more patient-friendly.
Such diagnostics and treatments are crucial to country-wide efforts to increase access to and uptake of preventive TB treatment – a key priority moving forward. They will also promote higher treatment acceptance rates among people with drug-resistant TB, while also reducing logistic challenges.
Third, be innovative. The second of the GATIMAN initiative’s core components requires you to inform key technical activities as well as high-level advocacy and public-private partnerships.
In your efforts to strengthen IT support, help build new Knowledge Management Platforms, support implementation research, and advocate for TB infection prevention initiatives, I urge you to think laterally and find new ways to accelerate progress that is people-centred and which engages and empowers affected communities.
The establishment of multisectoral collaborative networks at the sub-national level would be particularly valuable, especially if led by and supported at the highest possible levels of state government.
I extend my very best wishes to this Network, which, like the polio network before it, should be considered a global “best practice” that can help countries accelerate progress towards ending TB deaths, transmissions and catastrophic costs.
I join the Hon’ble Minister’s call for making 2021 the year for TB through a “TB Mukt Bharat” people’s movement to achieve India’s target of ending TB by 2025.
I thank His Excellency for this opportunity and look forward to our onward journey towards a TB-free India, a TB-free South-East Asia Region, and a TB-free world.
Thank you.