"Shrinking international donor funding has turned TB elimination into a test of domestic political commitment." Discuss with reference to the WHO Global TB Report 2026 and India's TB Mukt Bharat drive.

The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 finds that international donor funding for TB fell 14% in 2025, to $0.94 billion. Domestic budgets now provide 86% of TB spending [1]. As donors pull back, whether TB is eliminated depends mainly on how much high-burden governments are willing to commit.

Donor retreat: what the report shows

• Flat, then falling: donor aid stayed at $1.1–1.3 billion a year from 2015 to 2024, then fell in 2025 [1]. The Global Fund's 2024–26 grant cycle was cut by US$1.4 billion (11%) [3].
• Funding gap: only US$5.9 billion was available in 2024, against the $22 billion a year needed to meet the 2023 UNHLM targets by 2027 [2].
• Uneven exposure: the BRICS countries provide 65% of domestic TB funding in LMICs [1]. Poorer countries outside BRICS still depend on donors.

TB Mukt Bharat: India's commitment tested

• Results: incidence fell 21%, from 237 to 187 per lakh (2015–2024), through a largely self-financed programme [4].
• High stakes: the WHO South-East Asia Region had 35% of the world's new cases in 2025 [1].
• Policy levers: free diagnosis and drugs under NTEP, Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana nutrition support paid by DBT, and Ni-kshay Mitra community adoption of patients.
• Unfinished task: India missed its own 2025 elimination target. Because health is a State subject, delivery depends on State budgets and capacity.

Limits of the claim: beyond domestic will

• Research is global: TB R&D received only US$1.2 billion in 2023, 24% of the target [2]. New vaccines and shorter treatments need pooled international funding.
• Household burden: on average, 82% of families with drug-resistant TB face catastrophic costs [5]. Public spending does not mean patients pay nothing.
• Regional spillover: weak programmes in donor-dependent neighbouring countries raise the risk for the whole region.

Way forward

• Fixed budget lines for nutrition support to patients' families; raise public health spending towards the National Health Policy 2017 goal of 2.5% of GDP.
• India to lead South–South research partnerships and BRICS pooled procurement.

Donor cuts have made domestic political will the deciding factor, and India's progress shows that this will can deliver results. Elimination still needs shared research and regional cooperation. Steady financing, social protection for patients and Indian leadership in the Global South can keep SDG 3.3, ending TB by 2030, within reach.