Background and Challenges
TB is the second deadliest infectious disease in the world, after Covid-19, and nearly 2 billion people are infected with it worldwide, with India bearing 26% of the global burden of new cases. As per the recently released India TB Report 2022, an estimated 1.9 million people in India reported new active infections in 2021.
A key issue is the social stigma attached to TB, which leads to poor health-seeking behavior among the population and lack of diagnosis, thus creating a high likelihood for prolonged transmission. Three out of 10 people still go undiagnosed and untreated, a...