While India may have missed the 2025 deadline for eliminating tuberculosis — the pandemic had severely affected the national programme — the government has intensified its efforts, with another 100-day campaign being rolled out across the country on the occasion of World TB Day.

Over the next 100 days, the programme will actively screen for TB among everyone living in 1.58 lakh high risk villages or wards. Aside from these areas, screening will be conducted among vulnerable populations such as smokers, alcoholics, or those living with conditions such as HIV, diabetes; people living in congregate settings such as prisons, destitute homes, old age homes among others; and in urban centres people living in slums, beggars, or those working in the informal sector such as construction workers, rickshaw pullers, gig workers among others.

The screening will be conducted using 2,000 AI-enabled hand-held X-ray devices, which AI tools can read for signs of TB, enabling early detection. To compare, around 510 such machines were introduced in the programme for the first time during the previous iteration of the intensified campaign between December 2024 and March 2025.

Dietary interventions

Significantly, the government — for the first time — has pushed for providing the Rs 1,000 monetary support for nutrition within 15 days. This is important considering most of the TB deaths, especially in those who are malnourished, take place within the first two months after diagnosis. Delays of a couple of months in processing the payments have been seen in several states, making the nutritional support ineffective, according to experts.

Active screening for TB cases

The government plans to use the new AI-based hand-held X-Ray devices to screen everyone living in high-risk villages or wards — identified on the basis of 30 parameters, such as high TB incidence, prevalence of risk factors such as anaemia or tobacco use, population density and childhood malnutrition levels. The test will also be used to screen vulnerable populations mentioned above, barring children below the age of 14 years.

Only children, who have been exposed to TB in the last two years, are severely malnourished, living with HIV or living in congregate settings such as residential schools and are at high risk (those into drug abuse) will be screened.

Using these DSLR camera-like devices, enabled with AI application, a technician can within seconds determine whether a person is likely to have TB or not. This is a especially sensitive screening tool that can detect cases early on, even when the patient may not have developed symptoms such as cough.

During the active case finding campaigns — initially 100 days in high burden districts then the rest of the country — 9.48 lakh asymptomatic cases were detected using the novel method.

Along with the X-rays, people being screened will also be asked about 10 symptoms such as fever, night sweats, chest pain, weight loss, fatigue, lymph node swelling. Anyone thought to have TB using these screening methods will get the definitive molecular test to confirm the diagnosis. Those who are found to be positive will be put on appropriate treatment.

Skin TB test

Those who are not found to have the infection, will get the skin TB test that essentially tells the healthcare provider if they have a latent infection — where the pathogen is present in their system but they do not yet have the disease. Those found positive will also be put on TB preventive treatment. The screening will be carried out at the nearest health facilities or through outreach shivirs, using mobile medical units that are equipped with the x-ray machines.

Personalised care

Other than diagnosing and treating TB patients, there will also be a focus on providing personalised care. There will be SMS sent out to remind people to take their pills, or provide details for the monetary nutritional support. Calls will also be made to check treatment adherence, side effects, receipt of nutrition benefits, availability of drugs, psychosocial support.

The health workers will also help patients download the app called ‘Khushi aapki E- Sangini’ that has a chatbot to answer all queries about TB symptoms, treatment, side-effects and importance of nutrition. The patients will also be connected with TB champions, volunteers and nik-shay mitras to hand-hold through the treatment and provide psychosocial support.

TB in numbers

The tuberculosis burden in India has continued to decline — with an estimated 27.1 lakh cases and just over 3 lakh deaths in 2024, according to the latest available data from the Global TB Report 2025. Globally, 10.7 million people fell ill and 1.23 million died in 2024, meaning India accounted for nearly a fourth of all the cases and deaths across the world.

The Global TB Report shows that India has reduced its TB incidence by 21% and deaths by 28% between 2015 and 2024, meaning the country is nowhere close to achieving the WHO End TB milestone for 2025 — a reduction of 50% in TB incidence and 75% in TB deaths as compared to 2015. To be sure, even this reduction achieved by India is ahead of the global average. Globally, TB incidence reduced only by 12% between 2015 and 2024.