Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program

Tuberculosis (TB) control activities are implemented in the country for more than 50 years. The National TB Programme (NTP) was launched by the Government of India in 1962 in the form of District TB Centre model involved with BCG vaccination and TB treatment. In 1978, BCG vaccination was shifted under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. A joint review of NTP was done by Government of India, World Health Organization (WHO) and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in 1992 and some shortcomings were found in the programme such as managerial weaknesses, inadequate funding, over-reliance on x-ray, non-standard treatment regimens, low rates of treatment completion, and lack of systematic information on treatment outcomes. Around the same time in1993, the WHO declared TB as a global emergency, devised the directly observed treatment – short course (DOTS), and recommended to follow it by all countries. The Government of India revitalized NTP as Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) in the same year. DOTS was officially launched as the RNTCP strategy in 1997 and by the end of 2005 the entire country was covered under the programme. During 2006–11, in its second phase RNTCP improved the quality and reach of services, and worked to reach global case detection and cure targets. These targets were achieved by 2007-08. Despite these achievements, undiagnosed and mistreated cases continued to drive the TB epidemic. TB was the leading cause of illness and death among persons living with HIV/AIDS and large number of multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases were reported every year. During this period for achievement of the long term vision of a “TB free India”, National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control 2012-2017 was documented with the goal of ‘universal access to quality TB diagnosis and treatment for all TB patients in the community’. Significant interventions and initiatives were taken during NSP 2012-2017 in terms of mandatory notification of all TB cases, integration of the programme with the general health services (National Health Mission), expansion of diagnostics services, programmatic management of drug resistant TB (PMDT) service expansion, single window service for TB-HIV cases, national drug resistance surveillance and revision of partnership guidelines. However, to eliminate TB in India by 2025, five years ahead of the global target, a framework to guide the activities of all stakeholders including the national and state governments, development partners, civil society organizations, international agencies, research institutions, private sector, and many others whose work is relevant to TB elimination in India is formulated by RNTCP as National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Elimination 2017-2025.