Thu Jan 09 09:03:35 UTC 2025: ## India Launches Nationwide TB Screening Campaign, Targeting Prisons
**Chennai, January 9, 2025** – The Indian government has launched a nationwide 100-day campaign to combat tuberculosis (TB), with a special focus on screening inmates in prisons. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all states to conduct TB screening camps in prisons during the first two weeks of February 2025.
The initiative, part of a broader effort to eliminate TB in India, addresses the heightened risk of TB transmission within the closed and often overcrowded prison environment. The MHA advisory highlights inadequate screening and awareness as significant hurdles in controlling the spread of TB in prisons.
The nationwide campaign aims to identify 200,000 additional TB cases, achieve 90% screening coverage of vulnerable populations, ensure 100% nutritional support for TB patients, and certify 50,000 panchayats as TB-free by March 2025. States are urged to collaborate with state health departments and district TB officers to organize the screening camps and utilize Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials to raise awareness. The MHA emphasizes the crucial role of prison authorities in the success of this initiative. This intensified campaign follows recent public health concerns regarding the spread of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) and other respiratory illnesses.
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