Himachal Pradesh to have tuberculosis completely under control by 2023, says Health Minister

New Delhi: Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is an infectious, airborne disease that mainly affects your lungs. It is also one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.

Caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the disease can spread from person to person through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze, spit, laugh, speak, propelling the germs into the atmosphere.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), six countries accounted for 60% of the new TB cases including India in 2015.

In spite of various medical advancements during the last few years, poor hygienic conditions and poverty are some reasons that are holding the world back, especially India, where controlling TB is concerned.

Now, the state Health Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Kaul Singh Thakur, has stated that the state would achieve its target of completely controlling tuberculosis by 2023, two years ahead of the target.

The state was front-runner in TB control activities and carved a niche for it at the national level, he said at the closing session of a two-day workshop of Zonal Task Force (North Zone) here today.

The workshop was organised by the State Task Force, State TB Cell and National Health Mission HP, in collaboration with Central TB Division, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 100 delegates from eight states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh – participated in the workshop.

He said India contributed over 25 per cent of total cases of TB in the world. The 28 lakh cases and 4.8 lakh deaths every year in India tells the story of disease burden.

The minister said the state had decentralised TB diagnostic and treatment services and today it has 72 TB units for 74 health blocks and all allopathic health institutions were functioning as peripheral health institutions.

There were 200 diagnostic microscopic centres in the state and 15 more such centres were being opened, he said.

(With PTI inputs)