Globally, an estimated 10 million people suffered from tuberculosis (TB) in 2019, with India alone accounting for more than a quarter of all cases. TB contributed to more than 500,000 deaths in 2020, up from 445,000 in 2019. India is also home to one-third of the world’s missing TB patients. This makes the Government of India’s target of TB elimination by 2025 fairly ambitious but commendable. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected health care services, including diagnosis and case findings, resulting in a dramatic drop in TB case notifications. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 million people developed TB and 1.5 million died from TB in just in 2020. Out of those 10 million new cases, only 5.8 million were diagnosed and notified, reflecting an 18-per cent decrease from 2019 [1]. Such was the impact of COVID-19 on TB and other infectious diseases. The promising launch of bi-directional screening and testing for TB-COVID was an important measure to boost TB case findings. Based on this guideline, an initiative was launched in Mumbai, led by the MCGM with support from India Health Fund (IHF), FIND (supported by multiple donors including BMGF, MSDF, ACT etc.). This resulted in the facilitation of more than 18,000 COVID tests (Truenat) and ~1600 TB tests across 5 select hospital sites. Outcomes achieved through this project would enable wider adoption of Truenat within the public health system. To discuss lessons learnt from these initiatives, a webinar focusing on the role of new technologies in the elimination of tuberculosis was organized by the India Health Fund, FIND The Global Alliance For Diagnostics, and Empower School of Health on the 4th of May, 2022. The webinar also featured speakers from the Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Here are a few highlights from the webinar:

• The session kicked off with Mr. Madhav Joshi, CEO – India Health Fund, discussing IHF’s aim of identifying promising technologies that needed support to go from lab to market and its work in actively facilitating this journey, while highlighting the need for collaboration to achieve the goal of eliminating TB.
• Joint Director (Public Health), Central TB Division, MoHFW, Government of India, Dr. Nishant Kumar then elaborated on the TB elimination plan, addressing the progress in the plan, challenges to TB elimination, as well as the need for indigenously developed highly effective, rapid, user-friendly and affordable solutions like the Truenat platform.
• Madhukar Pai of McGill University, Canada; Dr. Sanjay Sarin, VP, Access and Country Programmes, FIND The Global Alliance For Diagnostics; Prof. Paul Lalwani, Dean and Director, Empower School of Health; and Dr. Kayla Laserson, Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases Cluster, India Country Office, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also discussed innovations in TB screening and the importance of early diagnosis and initiation of treatment to tackle TB.
• Mangala Gomare, EHO, Brihanmumbai Municipal Health Corporation, Maharashtra; Dr. Shubhada Shenai, Medical Officer, FIND The Global Alliance For Diagnostics; and Ms. Rajashree Sen, Senior Manager Country Programmes, FIND The Global Alliance For Diagnostics, shared insights from their Truenat case study on the bi-directional screening and testing for TB-COVID-19 in BMC healthcare facilities in Mumbai.
• This was followed by the presentation of findings from another case study by Dr. Santosh Gupta, State TB Officer, Uttar Pradesh, and Dr. Chandrashekhar Nair, Director and CTO, Molbio Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd. They discussed their findings with regard to the feasibility and impact of Truenat from its deployment at Center for Health Care Strategies in two districts in Uttar Pradesh.
• The webinar then concluded with Jayeeta Chowdhury, Programme Director, India Health Fund, expressing her appreciation for all of the participants as she summarised the insights gained from the webinar and the need for further collaboration to get innovations scaled up to reach the last mile of healthcare delivery.

Watch the entire webinar below and hear what these experts have to say. Reference:

1. https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/tb-unbowed-cost-missed-tb-targets-context-covid-19-pandemic