The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects on the global tuberculosis (TB) response, threatening to erase years of progress. In India, there was a 26 percent decline in TB case notifications and a 25 percent decline in drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) case notifications in 2020, compared to 2019. There was an additional 8 percent drop in TB notifications in March 2021, compared to January 2021, as the country entered a severe wave of renewed COVID-19 infections. To address these concerning declines, USAID developed this TB Recovery Plan in support of the National TB Elimination Program’s (NTEP) larger efforts to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the country’s TB response. Table 1 below provides detail on the interventions that USAID will support to address TB setbacks and further make progress towards the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB (UNHLM) targets. USAID is dedicating more than $20,000,000 in assistance towards the recovery plan activities described below. This is expected to restore 2021 TB and DR-TB case notifications back to 2019 levels. These activities were planned in coordination with and are complementary to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s recovery efforts.
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