New Delhi: There has been a substantial decline in Tuberculosis cases in India in the last few years, Union Minister of State for Health S P Singh Baghel said on Thursday (June 15). Addressing the attendees after inaugurating the ‘Innovative TB Health Technologies Workshop’ here, Minister Baghel underscored that innovation is key to the success of the mission to eradicate TB from the country.
Hosted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the two-day TB workshop aims to encourage researchers to innovate health technologies for the detection of TB such that they can be adopted for the ‘End TB’ programme. The workshop will also provide a sharing platform for the TB health technologies that were presented at the ‘Stop TB’ summit held in Varanasi in March.
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During his address, Minister Baghel urged the innovators to produce quality products that can be deployed at scale.
There is a substantial decline in TB cases and notifications in India in the last few years, the minister said.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB notification is the number of TB cases (new and relapse) notified to the national health authorities during a specified period of time. Annual case notifications are reported by countries to WHO using a web-based data collection system.
Minister Baghel said TB patients can now avail of treatment with their Ayushman Bharat cards.
Referring to the Varanasi summit, the minister said,
The goal of eliminating TB by 2025 reflected the political will and commitment of the Prime Minister.
He also hailed the “aggressive implementation” of the Central government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, saying it has led to considerable improvement in water, sanitation and hygiene indicators, thereby reducing TB cases.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
