More than 15 million people in India have been vaccinated.
AB Wire
Tremendous funding from the United States has gone a long way in curtailing and curing people afflicted with tuberculosis (TB) in India.
The United States has funded approximately $100 million in prevention and control measures against TB in India, reported Vaccine Daily News. Officials from the US say that more than 15 million people have received vaccines over the last 18 years in India.
TB is transmitted through the air, and a person who has TB and does not receive treatments can infect another 10 to 15 people every year. This treatable, curable disease is widespread throughout India, which has the highest TB burden across the globe.
Currently, there are approximately 2.2 million new TB cases, 110,000 new TB-HIV cases, and 99,000 multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB cases in India each year. Approximately 220,000 people die from TB each year, said the report.
Fortunately, there is an 88 percent success rate for new TB patients in India, and a 50 percent treatment success rate for patients who have MDR-TB patients.
With funding from the U.S. and the additional partnerships, India has experienced dramatic improvements in its diagnosis as well as its care of the contagious disease. But even though India now has a strong national TB control program, the illness is still one of the major causes of death. To continue improvements, the U.S. has committed to being a sustainable, supporting partner to help India eliminate TB, noted Vaccine Daily News.