SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
A new Asian Development Bank (ADB) blog titled ‘Taking Down TB: New Tools to End an Old Disease’ highlights that tuberculosis (TB) remains a critical global health failure, claiming approximately 1.23 million lives annually despite being preventable and curable. Asia and the Pacific bear a disproportionate share of this burden, housing two-thirds of the world’s 10.7 million cases and 12 of the 30 high-burden countries, including India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Historically, the region has relied on outdated smear microscopy and slow, symptom-driven diagnostic protocols. However, a new generation of diagnostic technology—including ultraportable X-rays with AI-based computer-aided detection (CAD) and rapid near-point-of-care molecular tests—is transforming the detection landscape by enabling early identification even in asymptomatic individuals.
A central policy shift advocated by the ADB is the move from facility-based, symptom-driven testing to community-level, symptom-agnostic screening. By aggressively scaling up population-level screening in workplaces and communities, countries can close the “diagnostic gap” and interrupt transmission cycles. These innovations are best suited for multilateral financing, which can help countries move beyond donor dependency and integrate TB screening into long-term, resilient primary care systems. Mobile X-ray vans and digital surveillance systems can be repurposed as multipurpose health assets, delivering a high return on investment for general respiratory and non-communicable disease management.
What is ‘Symptom-Agnostic Screening’ in TB control? It is a proactive public health strategy that involves testing individuals for tuberculosis regardless of whether they exhibit classic symptoms like a persistent cough or fever. Traditional methods rely on “passive” case-finding, where a patient must first feel ill to seek care. Symptom-agnostic screening—facilitated by high-sensitivity tools like AI-enabled digital X-rays—identifies sub-clinical or asymptomatic cases in the community. This approach allows health systems to detect the disease earlier, start treatment sooner, and effectively halt the chain of community transmission before more people are infected.
Policy Relevance
Transitioning to community-based, technology-led screening is essential for strengthening the foundation of primary care and achieving universal health goals across Asia and the Pacific.
Strategic Impact for India:
Bridging the Diagnostic Gap: Utilizing ultraportable X-rays and molecular tests allows for mass screening in high-risk environments like construction sites and mining areas, where TB prevalence is traditionally high.
Resilient Infrastructure: Repurposing mobile TB diagnostic units as multipurpose primary care assets provides a sustainable infrastructure that can respond to future pandemics and chronic respiratory conditions.
Interrupting Transmission: Shifting focus to community-level detection ensures that “missing cases” are found and treated early, directly supporting the goal of eliminating TB as a public health threat.
Sustainable Financing: Leveraging multilateral financing through the ADB enables the scale-up of these technologies while building national capacity and reducing long-term health system costs.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How can national health budgets be restructured to transition from facility-based symptomatic testing to a sustainable, community-level, symptom-agnostic screening model?
Follow the full news here: Taking Down TB: New Tools to End an Old Disease