India recorded a record 25.5 lakh TB cases in 2023 and 26.07 lakh in 2024, according to Union Health Minister Anupriya Patel. Despite rising cases, she emphasised progress in TB control and innovation, with declining incidence and mortality rates
Published Mar 23, 2025 | 2:29 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 23, 2025 | 2:29 PM
1 in 4 TB cases globally comes from India. (Supplied)
Synopsis: In 2025, India reported 5,77,712 TB cases in just 81 days, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for the highest burden. Despite improved detection, issues like poor living conditions, malnutrition, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure continue to hinder TB control. The private sector’s lower reporting highlights potential gaps, while top states like Maharashtra, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh remain key contributors
With World Tuberculosis (TB) Day observed on 24 March, India already reported 5,77,712 TB cases within the first 81 days of 2025, according to the Ni-Kshay portal, highlighting the ongoing public health challenge posed by the disease.
Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 1,58,756 cases, making it the most affected state, followed by Maharashtra (50,954), Bihar (45,530), and Madhya Pradesh (37,011).
These four states together contribute to a significant portion of the total TB burden in the country. The high case numbers suggest that densely populated regions with limited healthcare access, continue to struggle with TB control and treatment.
The data also reveals that private sector notifications remain lower compared to public hospitals, indicating potential gaps in reporting or access to private healthcare services for TB treatment.
Looking at the broader trend from 2024, when India reported 24,27,343 TB cases, it is evident that the disease remains a major health crisis, demanding sustained intervention. States such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, and West Bengal also feature among the top 10 highest burden states, showing little change from the previous year.
This consistency suggests that while TB detection efforts may have improved, underlying factors such as poor living conditions, malnutrition, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure continue to fuel the epidemic.
The high burden in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar indicates the need for enhanced TB control measures, including early detection, increased private sector engagement, and better access to diagnostic and treatment facilities. With India’s ambitious goal to eliminate TB by 2025, the current trajectory highlights the urgency for intensified public health interventions and community awareness campaigns.
In 2023 and 2024, India recorded 25.5 lakh and 26.07 lakh tuberculosis (TB) cases, marking the highest number of notified TB cases ever, according to Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel during India Innovation Summit Pioneering Solutions to End TB last week. Despite the rising number of reported cases, she highlighted India’s progress in TB control and innovation, emphasising that both incidence and mortality rates have declined.
The TB incidence rate has decreased by 17.7 percent, falling from 237 per lakh in 2015 to 195 per lakh in 2023. Similarly, TB-related deaths dropped by 21.4 percent over the same period. A significant achievement has been the reduction in missing TB cases, which declined from 15 lakh in 2015 to just 2.5 lakh in 2023. These improvements suggest that better detection, increased awareness, and improved healthcare interventions have played a crucial role in addressing the TB burden, even as notifications continue to rise.
Tamil Nadu has the highest TB burden in South India, with 93,276 cases in 2024 and 21,119 cases in early 2025. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also report significant numbers, each contributing over 78,000 cases in 2024 and over 17,000 cases so far in 2025. Telangana follows closely, recording 76,611 cases in 2024 and 16,341 cases in 2025.
Kerala, despite its better healthcare infrastructure, reported 20,843 cases in 2024 and 4,286 cases in 2025, indicating that TB remains a public health concern even in states with robust health systems. The South Indian states collectively accounted for over 3.5 lakh cases in 2024, highlighting the widespread presence of TB across the region. The case numbers in 2025 suggest a similar trend, emphasising the urgent need for sustained awareness, early diagnosis, and expanded TB treatment programs.
India accounts for one in four cases of tuberculosis (TB) globally, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO report noted that five countries contributed to 56 percent of the worldwide TB cases—India (26 percent), Indonesia (10 percent), China (6.8 percent), the Philippines (6.8 percent), and Pakistan (6.3 percent).
Apart from contributing the highest number of cases, India also has the highest number of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases worldwide.
“Approximately 27 percent of global MDR/RR-TB cases in 2023 were in India, followed by the Russian Federation (7.4 percent), Indonesia (7.4 percent), China (7.3 percent), and the Philippines (7.2 percent),” stated the report.
The WHO further revealed that around 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023 — the highest recorded figure since WHO began global TB monitoring in 1995. According to the report, 55 percent of those who developed TB were men, 33 percent were women, and 12 percent were children and young adolescents.
This marks a significant increase from the 7.5 million cases reported in 2022, positioning TB once again as the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, overtaking Covid-19.
The WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 highlights mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with continued challenges such as critical funding gaps. Although TB-related deaths decreased from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million in 2023, the total number of people falling ill with TB rose slightly to an estimated 10.8 million.
“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, especially when we have the tools to prevent, detect, and treat it,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General in a statement.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has stated that the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), under the National Health Mission (NHM), is being implemented across the country to detect TB cases early, ensure proper treatment, and prevent new infections.
According to MoHFW, all TB patients are tracked through the Ni-kshay portal for the entire duration of their treatment, while Ayushman Arogya Mandir and ASHA workers monitor their treatment adherence. Additionally, community-based treatment supporters are linked to patients, and incentives are provided to encourage adherence.
The government has expanded drug-resistant TB care, establishing 826 Drug-Resistant TB treatment centres across all districts to provide decentralised care. Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing (UDST) is now in place, ensuring that every diagnosed TB patient is tested for drug resistance at the time of diagnosis.
MoHFW has introduced a shorter, safer, all-oral drug-resistant TB treatment regimen since 2021, and in 2024, an even more effective regimen — a four-drug combination of Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, Linezolid, and Moxifloxacin — was launched to improve treatment outcomes.
Additionally, a newer oral drug regimen for drug-resistant TB has increased treatment success rates from 68 percent in 2020 to 75 percent in 2022. The mBPaL regimen, a newly introduced therapy, is 80 percent more effective and reduces the treatment duration to just six months.
To support TB patients nutritionally, the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana has doubled financial aid from ₹500 to ₹1,000 per month, effective 1 November, 2024.
The Ni-kshay Mitra Initiative has been launched to provide food baskets and additional support to TB patients and their families. In an effort to accelerate TB elimination, the government launched the TB Mukt Bharat 100 Days Intensified Campaign on 7 December 2024, covering 455 districts and focusing on early diagnosis, active case finding, and nutritional support.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has introduced multiple innovations to improve TB detection. MoHFW reports that handheld X-ray devices are being used for TB screening in remote areas with low radiation exposure.
AI-powered chest X-ray analysis (DeepCXR), developed in collaboration with the Institute of Plasma Research, Ahmedabad, is improving TB detection accuracy. Additionally, new diagnostic tools like the CyTb skin test for latent TB, the PathoDetectTM NAAT test for faster TB and drug-resistance detection, and the Quantiplus MTB FAST Detection Kit, a low-cost RT-PCR test with 86 percent sensitivity and 96 percent specificity, have been introduced.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
