Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare released the annual TB Report 2020, in the presence of Ashiwni Kumar Choubey, MOS (HFW), through a virtual event.

They also released a Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) report, a manual on Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to TB patients under NIKSHAY system, a Training Module, and the quarterly newsletter NIKSHAY Patrika.

The key achievements listed in the report include:

• Around 24.04 Lakh TB patients have been notified in 2019. This amounts to a 14% increase in TB notification as compared to the year 2018.
• Achieving near-complete on-line notification of TB patients through the NIKSHAY system.
• Reduction in the number of missing cases to 2.9 lakh cases as against more than 10 lakhs in 2017.
• 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.
• Provision of HIV testing for all notified TB patients increased from 67% in 2018 to 81% in 2019.
• Expansion of treatment services has resulted in a 12% improvement in the treatment success rate of notified patients.  For 2019 it is 81% compared to 69% in 2018.
• More than 4.5 lakh DOT Centers provide treatment covering almost every village across the country.
• NIKSHAY also expanded the provision of four Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) schemes of the programme –
  1. Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) to TB patients
  2. The incentive to Treatment Supporters
  3. Incentive to Private Providers and
  4. Transport incentive to TB patients in the notified tribal areas