President Pranab Mukherjee calls upon Stakeholders to redouble efforts for TB elimination

President Pranab Mukherjee has called upon all stakeholders to redouble their efforts for an early achievement of the goal of TB elimination. In his message on World Tuberculosis Day, Mr Mukherjee said, TB continues to be one of the major health challenges of India. He said, India today is better prepared to fight TB than ever before and it is capable of effective intervention and possesses advanced technologies for diagnosis, treatment and care of TB. He said, during the period from 2012 to 2017, the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme screened over 42 million individuals and more than 7 million patients were administered



treatment.

Yesterday, the delegates of Global Coalition Against TB called on the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Today, on the occasion of World TB Day, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda will launch some new initiatives. 

World Tuberculosis Day is observed on 24th March to commemorate the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch discovered the TB bacillus. Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of death across the globe, ranking above HIV and malaria. According to the World Health Organization in 2015, there were 10.4 million new cases of TB worldwide.