Kashmir witnessing drop in TB cases, says study

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 23

Even as tuberculosis (TB) cases are on the rise in India, the Kashmir region has witnessed a drastic decline in the disease over the years.

As per a recent study, “Prevalence of TB in Kashmir”, conducted by the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK), the incidence of the TB patients is 147 per lakh population as compared to an estimated national average of 217 per lakh.

The study has been conducted on 49,716 people in 67 clusters — a well-defined geographical area with 750 subjects aged over 15 years — in 64 medical blocks across Kashmir.

“We found 24 people positive for tuberculosis with seven of them from Baramulla, followed by four each in Budgam and Kupwara districts,” said Kashmir Epidemiologist Dr Rehana Kousar, who conducted the survey under the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) programme.

Kousar says the number becomes 147 after it is calculated per one lakh population and then multiplied by 1.3, which is correction factor for X-ray.

The only TB survey was conducted in Kashmir in 1984 by Mavurnath et al which showed a prevalence of culture-positive TB as three per 1,000 or 300 per lakh.

However, the DHSK has taken several measures over the years to develop infrastructure and employ trained manpower for the early detection and effective treatment of the disease.

The DHSK has installed seven CB-NAAT machines and DOTS centres have been established in all districts of Kashmir for better diagnosis of the disease.

On an average, officials say the Revised National TB Control Programme that started in 2004, 40 years after 1964 National Tuberculosis Control Programme, was reporting about 3,500 cases of TB every year in the Kashmir division which has a population of nearly 75 lakh. They said the case detection under the RNTCP was consistently around 45-50 per cent while the treatment success rate was above 90 per cent. Under the RNTCP, the total number of TB cases notified in 2010 was 117 while in 2011, it was 107. It has been in 70s from 2014 and reached 72 in 2016.

Kousar says the DHSK has been successful in reducing the burden of the diseases but more needs to be done to improve case detection. Better socioeconomic status, housing and nutrition have helped in the effective treatment of the TB patients, which has brought prevalence to below national average, she said.

“In TB control, it is important to diagnose cases as early as possible and treat them as soon as possible to reduce the infection load in the community,” she said.

Unlike the trend across India, she said women were more commonly affected as compared to males in Kashmir.

She said the survey gave the DHSK an opportunity to further integrate RNTCP with general health services.

With TB still posing a challenge to the healthcare system in Kashmir, official data reveals that the number of TB suspects examined since 2011 is 2,99,679. At least 26,835 new TB patients have been registered for treatment by the DHSK.

Much below national average 

As per a recent study, “Prevalence of TB in Kashmir”, conducted by the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK), the incidence of the TB patients is 147 per lakh population as compared to an estimated national average of 217 per lakh. Kashmir Epidemiologist Dr Rehana Kousar said better socioeconomic status, housing and nutrition had helped in the effective treatment of patients, which had brought TB prevalence to below national average