Eliminating tuberculosis within a generation -Governance Now

Eliminating tuberculosis within a generation

Published ahead of World TB Day (24 March 2019), The Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis estimates that there are significant financial benefits of reducing TB mortality.

GN Bureau | March 22, 2019

#Lancet Commission #World TB Day #tuberculosis #India #deaths #disease

Published ahead of World TB Day (24 March 2019), The Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis estimates that there are significant financial benefits of reducing TB mortality. With the country shouldering one-fourth of the global burden and a predominant number of patients accessing care in the private sector, the Lancet Commission’s report says that the country can save 8 million lives over the next 30 years by providing subsidized tests and supporting patients to complete tuberculosis treatment.

Here are the key highlights from the report:

-Tuberculosis has killed more than 1.6 million people a year in 2017, more people than any other infectious disease

-Currently more than a third of TB cases (35%) are not diagnosed or treated.

-India can save 8 million lives over the next 30 years by providing subsidized tests and supporting patients to complete tuberculosis treatment.

-The savings from averting a TB death are estimated to be three times the costs, and may be much greater in many countries.

-The saved lives would constitute over a quarter of total deaths (28%) due to tuberculosis. This would cost an extra US$290 million each year, which is significantly less than India’s US$32 billion losses associated with TB mortality each year.

-The UN and WHO have declared TB a health crisis and made ending the disease a global priority. This included ambitious goals to treat 40 million people, and to prevent 30 million new cases between 2018-2022.

-India can increase domestic expenditure on TB by 400% over the next 5 years by increasing the distribution of public resources to health, pooling financing, and allocating tax revenues to health.

-Priorities include availability of high quality diagnostic tests and treatments for all people with active TB in high burden areas.

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