India cuts TB mortality by 38% since 2015, WHO report shows
The WHO 2026 Global Tuberculosis Report says India reduced TB deaths by 38% since 2015, with a 94% treatment success rate for drug-susceptible cases.
India has lowered tuberculosis mortality by 38% since 2015, outpacing the global average decline of 35%, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2026. The report also notes a 94% treatment success rate for patients with drug-susceptible TB in the country.
The South-East Asia Region accounted for the largest share of new TB cases last year (35%), followed by the Western Pacific (27%) and the African Region (25%). About 88% of new cases occurred in 30 countries, with India contributing roughly a quarter of the global total. Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bangladesh together made up the remainder, while the top five countries represented 55% of all cases.
Globally, half of people treated for TB and their households face catastrophic costs—exceeding 20% of household income. The report links higher risk of TB to compromised immune systems, undernutrition, diabetes, tobacco use, alcohol use disorders and HIV infection, estimating 9.6 lakh new cases from undernutrition, 9.2 lakh from diabetes, 7.3 lakh from alcohol use disorders, 6.9 lakh from smoking and 5.5 lakh from HIV.
In 2025, an estimated 1.13 million people died from TB, making it the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. The same year saw about 10.6 million new TB cases worldwide, including 5.7 million men, 3.7 million women and 1.2 million children. Multidrug-resistant TB remains a challenge, with only about two in five patients receiving treatment in 2025. WHO estimates that global TB control efforts have saved 86 million lives since 2000.
The Union Health Ministry attributed India’s mortality decline to the National TB Elimination Programme, citing proactive case finding with AI-enabled X-rays, rapid diagnostics, prompt treatment, differentiated care and nutritional support through the Nikshay Poshan Yojana and Nikshay Mitra initiative. The ministry also highlighted AI tools for hotspot identification, risk prediction, and the Khushi chatbot and Avatar Videobot as part of the effort.
Between December 2024 and November 2026, the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan screened over 25 crore individuals, further contributing to the country’s progress against tuberculosis.