Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) shakes hands with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (R), director general of the World Health Organization, during the inauguration of the Delhi End-TB Summit, in New Delhi March 13, 2018. Narendra Modi on Tuesday set 2025 as the deadline to eradicate tuberculosis from India, five years ahead of a global target. (Xinhua/Partha Sarkar)
NEW DELHI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday set 2025 as the deadline year to eradicate tuberculosis from India, five years ahead of global target.
"A target has been set to end TB globally by 2030. I would like to announce that we have set an aim to eradicate it from India five years ahead by 2025," Modi said, while inaugurating the Delhi End-TB Summit in the Indian capital.
According to official figures, over 10 million people are affected by TB every year in India. And there had been 1.7 million TB-related deaths in India in 2016.
Urging all chief ministers to join this mission so that the 2025 target could be easily met, the prime minister said: "The state governments across the country have a major role to play in elimination of TB from India."
"TB is the most prevalent among communicable diseases in the country and the poor are the worst affected by it. Every step taken towards eradicating the disease is directly connected to their lives," he added.
