Tuberculosis in India

Twenty years ago it was widely believed that India was successfully on its way to controlling its alarming tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. The country’s massive scale-up and implementation of directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) therapy under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) was lauded internationally as a global model of excellence.

Yet this represented only half of the story of TB in India. A terrifying picture of the death, devastation, poverty, and suffering caused by TB began to emerge almost two decades later, when it became apparent that TB in India was not just a national crisis but a global one. Each year India has 2.2 million new cases, more than 300 000 deaths, and economic losses of $23bn (£14.9bn; €20.3bn) from TB,1 making it India’s biggest health crisis.

At …