India has the highest number of tuberculosis deaths anywhere in world, and an increasing number of people are developing serious drug-resistant strains of the illness. Tuberculosis is a disease that is curable and yet proving to be a huge challenge for India. It's a disease which was declared a global health emergency in 1993 but continues to grow unchecked even today.
With thousands of Indians succumbing to TB every day, the country has the highest incidence of the disease as well as its multi-drug resistant (MDR) strain, the XXDR. XXDR TB is a new and almost untreatable strain of the disease. A study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research finds that 7 per cent of all new TB patients in Mumbai did not respond to any known TB medication; 50 per cent of antibiotics are being overused and misused by both physicians and patients and 43 per cent patients self medicate, with one…
