NCC cadets, MY Bharat volunteers to help expand India’s TB elimination programme

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday said that the network of MY Bharat volunteers, National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets, and youth organisations will be leveraged to accelerate India’s tuberculosis (TB) elimination programme.

India missed its revised national target of eliminating new TB cases by 2025, five years ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target. The goal was adopted by the Ministry in 2020 when it renamed the country’s existing TB control programme as the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP).

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According to official estimates from the Ministry, more than 28 crore individuals have been screened for TB since the launch of the 100-Day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 2024, which was rolled out to intensify the government’s efforts to achieve the ambitious target. More than 39 lakh TB patients, including 12.93 lakh asymptomatic patients, were identified through chest X-rays, the Ministry noted.

Despite the intensified screening efforts, India still accounts for more than a quarter of the global TB burden, with an estimated 2.7 to 2.8 million new cases reported annually, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2025 report.

According to the latest estimates, India’s TB incidence reduction rate stands at 21 per cent, well short of the global target of 80 per cent, prompting the government to intensify its efforts.

To accelerate the implementation of the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, the Health Minister urged the Ministries of Defence and Youth Affairs to scale up the engagement of MY Bharat volunteers and National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets in TB screening, awareness campaigns, and nutrition support initiatives for patients.

Nadda said the active participation of young people, community organisations, educational institutions, workplaces, and government departments will be instrumental in accelerating awareness, early detection, treatment adherence, and patient support, thereby advancing the national goal of a TB-Mukt Bharat.