India sees 38% drop in TB mortality since 2015: WHO report

1. At a Glance

• The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 finds that India's TB mortality has fallen 38% since 2015. The global average fall is 35% [1].
• India reports a 94% treatment success rate for drug-susceptible TB (DS-TB) [1].
• India still has about a quarter of the world's new TB cases. It remains the largest contributor to the global TB burden [1].
• Why it matters for UPSC: the topic touches GS-II (health and government schemes), GS-III (health security, drug resistance) and SDG-linked targets. It also gives Prelims questions on WHO regions, country shares and how a "catastrophic cost" is defined.

2. Why in the News

• WHO released the Global Tuberculosis Report 2026. The Hindu reported it on 12–13 November 2026 [1].
• India's mortality cut (38%) is larger than the global figure (35%) [1].
• The report counts 1.13 million TB deaths worldwide in 2025 [1].
• The TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan brought more than 25 crore people under screening between 7 December 2024 and 8 November 2026 [1].
• The previous report (Global TB Report 2025) found that India's TB incidence fell 21%, from 237 to 187 per lakh population between 2015 and 2024 [2].

3. Background & Evolution

• Baseline year 2015: both WHO and India measure TB reductions against 2015 [1][2].
• Milestones, in order:
• 2015: baseline year. India's incidence was 237 per lakh and treatment coverage was 53% [2].
• 2024: India's incidence was 187 per lakh (down 21%) and treatment coverage was 92%. Over the same period, global incidence fell only 12% [2].
• 7 December 2024: start of the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan screening period counted in the report [1].
• 2025: 1.13 million TB deaths worldwide [1].

• November 2026: Global TB Report 2026 records the 38% fall in India's mortality and 94% treatment success for DS-TB [1].

• Earlier programmes (not in the retrieved sources; check before relying on them):

• RNTCP was renamed NTEP (National TB Elimination Programme) in 2020.
• The National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination has four pillars: Detect, Treat, Prevent, Build.
• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (2018) gives patients nutritional support through direct benefit transfer (DBT).
• WHO's End TB Strategy (2015 baseline) set milestones of 35% fewer deaths by 2020 and 75% fewer by 2025.

4. Core Static Facts

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Social

• About 50% of TB-affected households worldwide face catastrophic costs. TB both causes poverty and is made worse by it [1].
• Undernutrition, HIV, diabetes and tobacco use are risk factors. Nutrition and controlling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are therefore part of TB control [1].
• India carries about a quarter of global cases. The burden falls mostly on poor and malnourished people [1].

Economic

• Indirect costs, mainly lost income, are counted in the catastrophic cost measure. TB hits working-age people hardest [1].
• Treatment coverage rose from 53% to 92% between 2015 and 2024. Fewer "missing cases" means less onward transmission and lower long-run costs [2].

Administrative / Governance

• Screening was greatly expanded: more than 25 crore people were covered by the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan between December 2024 and November 2026 [1].
• The 94% DS-TB treatment success rate shows the treatment cascade works. Detection is now the main gap, not completion of treatment [1].
• India's results are better than the global averages on both incidence (21% vs 12%) and mortality (38% vs 35%) [1][2].

Health Security / Scientific

• Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is still a public health crisis and a health security threat [1].
• Drug resistance links TB to the wider problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (cross-topic link).

Global / Geopolitical

• South-East Asia has 35% of new cases. Six of the top eight countries are in Asia, so regional cooperation matters [1].
• WHO's ranking of India sets the benchmark for its claims about progress toward elimination [1][2].

Critical assessment (mentor's analysis)

• A 38% fall in mortality over about 10 years is real progress. It is still well below WHO's End TB 2025 milestone of 75% fewer deaths (check this target figure). India's own "TB elimination by 2025" goal has not been met on incidence.

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 2025: WHO's Global TB Report 2025 records a 21% fall in India's incidence (2015–2024) and treatment coverage of 92% [2].
• 7 Dec 2024 – 8 Nov 2026: the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan brings more than 25 crore people under screening [1].
• November 2026: WHO's Global TB Report 2026 records:
• a 38% fall in India's mortality [1]
• 94% treatment success for DS-TB [1]
• 1.13 million TB deaths worldwide in 2025 [1]

7. Prelims Hooks

• India's TB mortality has fallen 38% since 2015, according to the WHO Global TB Report 2026 [1].
• The global TB mortality decline since 2015 is 35% [1].
• India's treatment success rate for drug-susceptible TB is 94% [1].
• 1.13 million people died of TB worldwide in 2025 [1].
• The WHO region with the most new TB cases is South-East Asia (35%). Next come the Western Pacific (27%) and Africa (25%) [1].
• About 88% of new TB cases occur in 30 countries [1].
• The top contributors after India (~25%) are Indonesia (10%), the Philippines (6.8%) and China (6.5%) [1].
• Pakistan (6.4%) is ahead of Nigeria (4.9%). Bangladesh (3.7%) is in the top eight [1].
• WHO's definition of catastrophic TB cost is total cost greater than 20% of total household income [1].
• Catastrophic costs include indirect costs such as lost income, not just medical spending [1].
• India's TB incidence fell from 237 to 187 per lakh between 2015 and 2024, a drop of 21% [2].
• Global TB incidence fell 12% between 2015 and 2024 [2].
• India's TB treatment coverage rose from 53% (2015) to 92% (2024) [2].
• The TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan screened more than 25 crore people between Dec 2024 and Nov 2026 [1].

8. Why Deaths Fell Faster Than New Cases

• Deaths and new cases are two different numbers, and they move at different speeds
• Mortality (the number of people who die of TB) fell 38% since 2015 [1].
• Incidence (the number of people who newly get TB each year) fell only 21%, from 237 to 187 per lakh, between 2015 and 2024 [2].

• Deaths have fallen almost twice as fast as new cases.

• Treatment saves lives, but it does not stop people catching TB

• Treatment coverage rose from 53% to 92% [2], and 94% of DS-TB patients (those whose TB still responds to normal drugs) complete treatment successfully [1].
• When a sick person is found and treated, that person usually survives. So the death count drops quickly.

• New cases depend on other things: how long an infected person spreads TB before anyone finds it, and how many people are weak enough to fall sick. Hunger, diabetes, HIV and tobacco all raise that risk [1].

• What this means for the 'TB elimination' claim

• Elimination is measured by new cases, not by deaths. A big fall in deaths can sit alongside a slow fall in infection.
• India still has about a quarter of the world's new cases [1]. Treating people well has done its job. The harder task now is stopping people from falling sick in the first place.

9. Why Free Medicines Still Leave Families Poor

• The biggest cost is lost wages, not medicines
• WHO counts indirect costs (income lost when the patient or a carer cannot work) in its catastrophic-cost measure [1].
• Free drugs in a government clinic do nothing about a daily-wage worker who cannot work for six months.

• This is why about half of TB-affected households worldwide still cross the 20%-of-income line [1].

• The nutrition payment has been too small and has often come late

• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana paid ₹500 a month through DBT (direct benefit transfer, money sent straight to a bank account). It was raised to ₹1,000 a month only from 1 November 2024 [4].
• Only about 62% of patients notified in 2021 got even one payment [3].

• Patients often get the money late [3]. The early weeks of treatment are when the patient is weakest and the family has already lost income, so late money misses the moment it is needed most.

• The scheme is big, and that makes reaching everyone harder

• About ₹4,322 crore has gone to 1.35 crore patients since April 2018 [4].
• At this size, even a small share of failed or late transfers means lakhs of patients without support.

10. Food Can Prevent TB, Not Just Help Cure It

• Hunger is one of the main reasons people fall sick with TB
• Undernutrition is listed as a high-risk factor [1]. A hungry body is less able to keep a sleeping TB infection under control.

• Research shows a good diet can cut TB infections by nearly 50% [5].

• Support that goes only to the patient arrives too late to prevent anything

• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana pays the patient after diagnosis [4]. By then the person is already sick and may have infected others.
• The people most at risk next are the family members who share the same home and the same thin diet.

• In 2024 the Health Ministry announced nutrition support for TB patients and their families [4]. This shifts some support from cure towards prevention.

• Why this matters for the incidence gap

• Better treatment brought deaths down. Bringing new cases down needs action before people get sick, and food for families at risk is one of the cheapest ways to do that [5].

11. What the 94% Success Rate Leaves Out

• The 94% figure covers only DS-TB
• It applies to drug-susceptible TB, which responds to normal first-line drugs [1].
• It does not cover MDR-TB (multidrug-resistant TB, where the two main drugs no longer work). WHO still calls MDR-TB a public health crisis [1].

• Do not use 94% as India's success rate for all TB.

• Different documents give different success figures, so read the label

• A 2026 government document puts treatment success at 90%, against a global average of 88% [6].
• The 2026 WHO report gives 94% for DS-TB alone [1].

• The two numbers cover different patient groups. In an answer, always say which group a figure refers to.

• Why a shorter MDR-TB course matters

• Older MDR-TB treatment ran for many months with many pills. The longer the course, the more patients stop halfway, and stopping halfway breeds even stronger resistance.
• India has started BPaLM (a newer drug combination taken as tablets) under the national programme. It cuts treatment to 6 months [6].
• More than 15,000 MDR/RR-TB patients (RR = rifampicin-resistant, where the key drug rifampicin no longer works) have started on it [6]. Next to India's quarter share of world TB [1], that is still a small start.

12. What the Health Ministry Should Do Next

• MoHFW: pay the first nutrition instalment at diagnosis, not weeks later
• Payments are often late, and only about 62% of notified patients in 2021 got even one payment [3].

• Paying on the day of diagnosis would reach the patient in the weakest weeks. Ni-kshay already records every notified patient, so the data needed to trigger a payment is already there.

• NTEP: scale up food support for household members, not just patients

• A good diet can cut TB infections by nearly 50% [5].

• The 2024 move to support patients' families [4] should be widened. This is the most direct way to lower incidence, which is lagging behind mortality [1][2].

• NTEP: make the 6-month BPaLM course the standard for MDR-TB everywhere

• 15,000+ patients on BPaLM so far [6] is a start. A shorter course means fewer patients drop out, so fewer people end up with even more resistant TB.

• Report success rates separately for DS-TB and MDR-TB in every official release

• Today 94% [1] and 90% [6] appear side by side for different groups. Reporting them separately would show where the programme is actually weak.

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: TB mortality in India down 38% since 2015, against 35% globally (WHO Global TB Report 2026) [1]
• Data: Incidence down only 21% (237 → 187 per lakh, 2015–2024). Deaths are falling faster than new cases [2]
• Data: Only about 62% of TB patients notified in 2021 received even one Ni-kshay Poshan payment [3]
• Data: About ₹4,322 crore paid to 1.35 crore patients under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana since April 2018 [4]
• Data: A good diet can cut TB infections by nearly 50% [5]
• Report/Committee: WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 [1]; WHO Global TB Report 2025 [2]
• Scheme: Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana: support raised from ₹500 to ₹1,000 a month from 1 Nov 2024; nutrition support extended to patients' families [4]
• Scheme: BPaLM 6-month regimen for drug-resistant TB: 15,000+ MDR/RR-TB patients started [6]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: issues in the development and management of health services; government welfare schemes for vulnerable groups; the role of international institutions (WHO).
• GS-III: science and technology in health; health security (MDR-TB and AMR).
• GS-I (indirect): poverty and social issues (catastrophic health spending).
• Possible question stems: 1. India has outperformed global averages in reducing TB incidence and mortality, yet remains the world's largest TB-burden country. Critically analyse the gaps in India's TB elimination strategy. 2. Tuberculosis is as much a socio-economic disease as a medical one. Discuss with reference to catastrophic costs and nutritional determinants. 3. Drug-resistant TB is an emerging health security threat. Examine India's preparedness and suggest measures.

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): MDR-TB is the clearest example of drug resistance in public health.
• SDG 3 (Target 3.3): ending TB is one of the SDG health targets.
• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana / Ni-kshay Mitra: undernutrition is a TB risk factor, and these schemes provide nutritional support.
• Ayushman Bharat & NCD programmes: diabetes and tobacco use raise TB risk.
• National AIDS Control Programme: HIV–TB co-infection is a high-risk group.
• Out-of-pocket health expenditure (National Health Accounts): this is the measure behind catastrophic costs.
• WHO structure and regional offices: needed to answer region-wise burden questions.

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• WHO End TB Strategy (Economy): WHO's End TB milestones and 2030 targets are the benchmark against which India's 38% mortality fall is judged.
• National TB Elimination Programme (Economy): NTEP is India's main programme behind the screening, treatment success and elimination goals discussed in the note.
• Drug-resistant tuberculosis (Economy): MDR-TB is flagged as a health security threat and is reported separately from drug-susceptible TB.
• Antimicrobial resistance (Geography): Drug-resistant TB is a key example of the wider antimicrobial resistance problem.
• Incidence (Economy): The note contrasts incidence (new cases, down 21%) with mortality (deaths, down 38%), a common exam trap.
• Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (Economy): This scheme gives TB patients nutrition support, tackling undernutrition as a TB risk factor.
• Ni-kshay Mitra (Economy): Community adoption of TB patients complements government nutrition and diagnostic support under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.
• National Health Accounts (Economy): Out-of-pocket spending data from these accounts underlies the catastrophic cost measure for TB households.
• Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Economy): Ending the TB epidemic is a health target under this goal.
• World Health Organization (Polity): WHO publishes the Global TB Report and sets the regional and country benchmarks used in the note.
• Non-communicable disease (Economy): Diabetes and tobacco-related illness raise TB risk, linking NCD control to TB control.
• Direct Benefit Transfer (Polity): Nutritional support to TB patients is delivered through direct bank transfers.
• Poverty (Economy): TB both causes and is worsened by poverty, as shown by catastrophic household costs.
• Health expenditure (Economy): Public and private health spending determines financial protection for TB patients and their households.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Mortality vs incidence: the 38% figure is the fall in mortality (2026 report). The 21% figure is the fall in incidence (2025 report). Do not swap them [1][2].
• Treatment success vs treatment coverage: 94% is the success rate for DS-TB. 92% is coverage (the share of estimated cases notified and treated) [1][2].
• Region ranking: the Western Pacific (27%) is second, ahead of Africa (25%). Many aspirants assume Africa is second [1].
• Country ranking: Indonesia is second, not China. The Philippines is ahead of China [1].
• Catastrophic cost threshold: the cut-off is 20% of household income, and it includes indirect costs [1].
• Data year vs report year: the 2026 report gives 2025 data, such as the 1.13 million deaths [1].