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Target to end TB by 2025 is achievable, says Govt

New Delhi: The government is pulling out all the stops to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025 --- five years ahead of the globally set target of 2030. As the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is ready with a robust roadmap to make India a TB free nation by 2025, other stakeholders have opined that target is achievable.
The Health Ministry, which is led by JP Nadda, has rolled out new National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end TB by 2025 which has been appreciated by the global community as a model plan for combating tuberculosis.
In his inaugural address at the launch of Delhi End-TB Summit, Nadda said, "We are using information technology (IT) tools for monitoring the programme and treatment adherence. Community engagement is the hallmark and it is becoming a social movement to end TB in India."
"We are starting a new scheme for nutritional support, expanding public-private partnership models and aligning our strategies to follow the similar success we got in HIV/AIDS," the Health Minister said while spelling out the initiatives of the government to eradicate tuberculosis.
Speaking at the function, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO said that this is the right place to have this event and India's plans to achieve the targets 5 years before the global target is bold, courageous and ambitious."
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his personal and political commitment, Tedros said that such commitment is needed to win the war against TB.
Hailing India's commitment, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, who is WHO South- East Asia's Regional Director, said, "India has announced they will be able to achieve it by 2025. So we are there to support our countries in achieving the targets they make for themselves."
Apart from allopathic medicines, the TB patients should also be prescribed some ayurvedic drugs. As the loss of weight and appetite is
very common among TB patients, the ayurvedic drug Amlycure DS has been tested positive on patients receiving ATT as the drug normalises lever functioning without any side effects.
Notably, the TB is the leading infectious killer in India. There was an estimated 28 lakh new cases of TB in 2016, with over 4 lakh people succumbing to the disease, including those with TB and HIV.
Expressing their views on the commitment, officials leading the End TB drive in states said that the target is very much achievable, but the Centre has to 'support' programmes being run by state governments to eliminate the life taking disease.
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