News: Karnataka has significantly reduced Tuberculosis (TB) deaths and improved treatment outcomes through enhanced screening, rapid diagnosis, and strengthened public health interventions.

Key Highlights

• TB death rate declined from 9% (2021) to 5% (2025).
• Treatment success rate increased to 88%.
• Presumptive TB Examination Rate (PTER) increased from 963 to 2,897 per lakh population, improving early detection.
• NAAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing) expanded for rapid diagnosis, with 12.75 lakh tests conducted in 2025.
• Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing (UDST) enabled early detection of Drug-Resistant TB (DR-TB).
• TB-HIV co-infection cases reduced from 4,401 (2021) to 3,024 (2025).
• Under the TB Mukt Panchayat Initiative, 1,464 of 5,690 Gram Panchayats have been declared TB-free.
• The state has distributed handheld X-ray machines and received approval to recruit 112 radiographers under the National Health Mission (NHM) for faster community screening.
• Karnataka aims to eliminate TB by 2030.

Significance

• Demonstrates the importance of early diagnosis, universal drug susceptibility testing, community screening, and decentralized healthcare in TB control.
• Contributes to India's goal of TB elimination by 2025 (national target) while Karnataka has set a state target of 2030.