One out of 20 TB patients in India is infected by HIV.
Around 65% of the registered TB patients of India know their HIV status (gross
variation across the states). More than 60% people living with HIV & AIDS
die of TB in India. 2.3 – 3.1 million people of India are infected by HIV and
around 400,000 – 500,000 are currently on ART (may be less). ART itself has TB prevention
property, so we expect people on ART are relatively at safer side provided they
adhere to their treatment.
But the TB risk is higher among
1) Those who are not on ART (around 2 million),
2) Those already infected by HIV but don’t know their HIV
status,
3) Those who are at higher risk of HIV transmission, and
4) Around 30 – 40% registered TB cases who don’t know their
HIV status.
All these groups should be targeted under TB/HIV collaborative
program within a close partnership of NACP & RNTCP at state and district
level, which still needs lot of attention and support.
