Srinagar: Anantnag and Pulwama districts have been declared tuberculosis free under the sub-national certification for Tuberculosis (TB) elimination in India, officials said here on Tuesday.
State Tuberculosis officer, Dr Adfar Qadri told that two more districts-Anantnag and Pulwama have been declared TB-free.
She said Srinagar has got a gold medal while the UT has got the bronze and most of the other districts have maintained the status-quo. “We now have the distinction of having three districts with TB three as Budgam was declared TB-free in 2021,” she said.
She added last year Kashmir had got 3 gold medals and now they have got upgraded and Pulwama and Anantnag have been declared TB-free.
“TB incidence is declining in Kashmir. We will achieve TB elimination by 2025 as we are doing intensified and active case finding and case screening,” she said. Notably, there are 4 categories of recognition in the achievement of reduction of case targets, the top spot being TB-free status meaning an 80% reduction.
The other categories include the gold medal category (over 60% reduction), silver medal category (over 40% reduction) and bronze medal category (over 20% reduction).
Budgam was the first district to be declared TB-free. Sub-national certification is an initiative to mark the progress of districts, states and UTs towards TB-free status, which was initiated in 2020 to achieve the target of TB free India by 2025—(KNO)
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