E-Paper
All U.P. districts exceed 80 points in key indicators to eliminate TB
Uttar Pradesh achieves record-breaking scores in key indicators of National Tuberculosis Elimination Program, with all districts scoring over 80 points out of 100. The state's commitment to becoming TB-free by 2025 is highlighted.
Uttar Pradesh, for the first time, set a record with all its districts scoring over 80 out of the designated 100 points in the key indicators of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program in 2023. The milestone underscores the government’s commitment to fulfilling the Prime Minister’s resolution to make the country TB-free by 2025, according to a government press release.
Among the districts, Rampur led with 92.8 points, followed by Pratapgarh with 91.6 and Bijnor with 90.9 points. The overall state score was 85.3 points, exceeding the set benchmark by 5.3 points. This score is based on the annual achievements until December, with 20 marks designated for the notification of TB patients.
According to Health Director General Dr Brijesh Rathore, the monitoring and periodic reviews by the state government have led to the state achieving a milestone under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program.
The program considers a district’s performance excellent if it scores more than 80 out of the designated 100 points. In 2023, all districts in UP outperformed previous years in accordance with this criterion.
Dr Rathore said that the program assigns 20 points for the key indicator of TB patient notifications, and the state has received the full score. This indicates a special focus throughout the year on identifying TB patients in every district, as early identification allows for prompt treatment, leading to recovery.
He informed that the Central TB Division set a target of 5.50 lakh TB patient notifications for Uttar Pradesh in 2023, and the state surpassed this by notifying over 6.27 lakh (114%) TB patients, far exceeding the target. The second key indicator was the success rate of treatment for drug-sensitive TB patients at 89 percent, and the rate of quality treatment for drug-resistant TB (DRTB) patients was 88 percent.
National Program director Dr Seema Srivastava stated that the HIV testing rate along with TB was 96% in 2023. The Health Department aims to ensure HIV testing for every TB patient.
