WHO Global TB Report 2026: India Cuts TB Deaths by 38% as World Still Falls Short

India has cut deaths from tuberculosis by 38% since 2015, and 94 out of every 100 patients with drug-susceptible TB now complete treatment successfully. Those are the headline findings for India in the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2026, released on 12 November. It is real, measurable progress against a disease that still kills more people than any other single infectious disease on Earth. But the same report carries a warning: an estimated 10.6 million people developed TB in 2025, and 1.13 million died. The world, the WHO says, is not moving fast enough to end tuberculosis. This article explains what the report found, why India’s numbers improved, what the massive screening campaign achieved, where drug-resistant TB stands, and what still needs to happen.

Contents

• The global picture: 10.6 million cases, 1.13 million deaths
• India’s progress: deaths down 38%, treatment success 94%
• The campaign that screened 250 million people
• Drug-resistant TB: real progress, big gaps
• Why did India’s numbers improve?
• What is tuberculosis?
• What still needs to happen
• Frequently asked questions
• Final thoughts

The global picture: 10.6 million cases, 1.13 million deaths

Tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. The WHO’s 2026 Global TB Report estimates that 10.6 million people developed TB in 2025, and 1.13 million people died from it. Those two numbers frame everything else in the report: for all the progress in diagnostics, drugs and funding, more than a million people a year are still dying of a disease that is preventable and curable.

The report’s central message is that the world is not moving fast enough. The global decline in TB deaths is happening, but not at the pace needed to end the epidemic. The report does point to encouraging increases in domestic funding, driven by greater investment from countries including India and Indonesia, and it highlights real scientific progress — shorter treatment regimens, better diagnostics and new tools reaching patients. But the gap between what is possible and what is happening remains wide, and the report is blunt that sustained investment in research, development and access is what turns scientific breakthroughs into better care for people affected by TB.

For readers in South Asia, the global numbers have a direct local meaning. India carries the world’s largest TB burden, so progress in India moves the global figures, and failure in India holds them back. That is why the India section of this year’s report attracted so much attention when it was released on 12 November.

India’s progress: deaths down 38%, treatment success 94%

India has recorded a 38% decline in tuberculosis mortality since 2015, compared with a global reduction of 35% over the same period, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026. India’s estimated TB mortality rate fell from 28 deaths per lakh (100,000) population in 2015 to 18 per lakh in 2025. At the same time, the country achieved a treatment success rate of 94% among patients with drug-susceptible TB — meaning 94 out of every 100 people who started treatment for ordinary, drug-sensitive TB finished it successfully.

The figures were reported by the Press Information Bureau and covered by DD India and NDTV Profit on 12 November, drawing on the WHO report. The report’s mortality estimates for India draw on multiple sources, including the Registrar General of India’s Sample Registration System, community-based verbal autopsy assessments, and programme data from the Ni-kshay portal, the government’s TB patient management system. A nationally representative TB prevalence survey conducted in 2025 by the Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (ICMR-NIRT) also fed into the findings.

The 38% decline matters because it is faster than the world average, and because it happened in the country with the most TB cases on Earth. India’s stated goal has been to eliminate TB by 2025 — five years ahead of the global 2030 target — and while that deadline has not been met in full, the direction and the speed of the decline show the programme is working. The progress reflects early detection, timely treatment, technological interventions and comprehensive patient support under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP).

The campaign that screened 250 million people

Behind the national figures sits one of the largest public-health screening drives ever attempted. The TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan — the campaign to make India TB-free — has expanded access to screening and diagnosis through intensified campaigns, technology-enabled interventions and community outreach, particularly among vulnerable and high-risk populations. Between 7 December 2024 and 8 November 2026, the campaign recorded screening of more than 250 million people (25 crore), more than 110 million chest X-rays, more than 30 million nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) for rapid and accurate diagnosis, and the identification of 4.864 million new TB cases — including 1.497 million asymptomatic cases, people who had TB but showed no symptoms and would otherwise never have been found.

Finding asymptomatic cases is the point of a campaign like this. Tuberculosis spreads through the air when a person with the disease coughs or sneezes, and people who do not know they are ill keep passing it on. Every asymptomatic case found and treated is a chain of transmission broken. The scale of the screening — a quarter of a billion people in under two years — is what makes the 38% mortality decline plausible: the programme is finding cases earlier, treating them faster, and reaching people who would previously have been missed entirely.

Technology played a central part. The reduction in deaths has been supported by intensified case-finding using artificial intelligence-enabled chest X-rays, rapid diagnostic tests, prompt treatment initiation and differentiated care — meaning treatment adapted to each patient’s needs. Patients also receive nutritional support through the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana and the Ni-kshay Mitra initiative, which recognises that TB treatment fails when patients are malnourished or cannot afford to keep coming back to the clinic.

Drug-resistant TB: real progress, big gaps

The report also tracks drug-resistant tuberculosis, the form of the disease that does not respond to the standard first-line drugs and is far harder and more expensive to treat. Here the news is mixed. The share of people receiving shorter, six-month, all-oral treatment regimens for rifampicin-resistant TB more than doubled, from 18% in 2024 to 42% in 2025. Shorter, all-oral regimens matter enormously: the older treatments could last up to two years and included painful daily injections, which many patients could not complete. A six-month course of pills is far easier to finish, and finishing treatment is what cures TB and stops resistance spreading.

But the gap is still large. Only 42% of people estimated to have developed rifampicin-resistant TB were enrolled in treatment at all. That means more than half of the people with drug-resistant TB are not getting the treatment they need — many of them undiagnosed, many diagnosed but not started on therapy. Drug-resistant TB is the sharp end of the epidemic: it is where the disease is hardest to beat, and where failure is most dangerous, because untreated resistant TB spreads resistant strains.

Why did India’s numbers improve?

Four things explain India’s improvement, and all four are visible in the report. First, case-finding got far more aggressive: the mass screening campaign, AI-enabled X-rays and rapid molecular tests found cases that would previously have been missed, including nearly 1.5 million asymptomatic cases. Second, treatment got better and more reliable: a 94% success rate for drug-susceptible TB reflects improvements in treatment delivery, patient monitoring and continued support for people affected by the disease. Third, the programme reached further into communities, with intensified campaigns and outreach among vulnerable and high-risk populations, backed by public participation under the TB Mukt Bharat vision. Fourth, domestic funding increased, part of the encouraging rise in domestic TB funding the report notes in India and Indonesia.

None of this happened by accident. It is the result of a deliberate programme — the National TB Elimination Programme — backed by a national campaign, a digital patient-tracking system in Ni-kshay, and political attention at the highest level. The lesson for other high-burden countries is that TB control is not only a medical problem; it is a problem of finding patients, supporting them through months of treatment, and paying for it. India’s numbers show that doing those things at scale moves the mortality rate.

What is tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, that most commonly affects the lungs but can affect other parts of the body. It spreads through the air when a person with lung TB coughs, sneezes or speaks. The symptoms most commonly include a persistent cough lasting three weeks or more, fever, night sweats, weight loss and fatigue, and sometimes coughing up blood. Many people who are infected never develop the disease — the bacteria can remain dormant for years — but when it becomes active, it needs treatment.

The important fact is that TB is curable. Standard drug-susceptible TB is treated with a course of antibiotics lasting about six months, and the vast majority of patients who complete treatment are cured. The danger comes when treatment is interrupted or never started: the disease worsens, the patient keeps spreading it, and the bacteria can develop drug resistance. That is why the 94% treatment success rate in India matters so much — and why the 42% enrolment figure for drug-resistant TB is the number to watch next. Early testing, complete treatment and good nutrition are the three things that save lives, and India’s campaign addressed all three.

India’s health system has been under strain from other outbreaks this year as well. For the scale of what an uncontrolled infectious disease can do in the region, see our report on the Bangladesh measles outbreak, where the death toll passed 1,150, and our coverage of the new COVID variant PJ.2.1, which has spread to eight countries. And for a different kind of public-health progress in India this week, see India’s cut to cancer drug prices by up to 70%.

What still needs to happen

The report’s warning is the other half of the story. The world is not on track to end TB, and the reasons are familiar: too many cases still undiagnosed, too many drug-resistant patients never enrolled in treatment, and funding that still depends heavily on a few countries and donors. The encouraging increase in domestic funding in India and Indonesia shows what is possible when governments invest their own money, but the report is clear that the pace must accelerate everywhere.

For India, the next steps are also clear from the numbers. The screening campaign needs to continue, because finding asymptomatic cases is what drives mortality down. Drug-resistant TB enrolment needs to rise far above 42%. And the shorter, all-oral regimens that reached 42% of rifampicin-resistant patients in 2025 need to reach the rest. The 2025 elimination target has passed, but the programme’s own figures — a 38% mortality decline, a 94% success rate — show that the goal is achievable if the effort is sustained. The report gives India a credible claim to be the country that proves TB can be beaten at scale. Whether it becomes that proof depends on what happens next.

Frequently asked questions

What is the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026?
It is the World Health Organization’s annual report on the global tuberculosis epidemic, released on 12 November 2026. It estimates cases, deaths, treatment coverage and funding for TB worldwide, using data reported by national programmes and surveys.

How much did TB deaths fall in India?
India recorded a 38% decline in TB mortality since 2015, compared with a global reduction of 35%. India’s estimated TB mortality rate fell from 28 deaths per lakh population in 2015 to 18 per lakh in 2025.

What is India’s TB treatment success rate?
India achieved a 94% treatment success rate among patients with drug-susceptible TB, meaning 94 out of every 100 patients who started treatment completed it successfully.

How many people get TB and die from it globally?
An estimated 10.6 million people developed TB in 2025, and 1.13 million died, according to the WHO report. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

How many people did India’s TB screening campaign cover?
Between 7 December 2024 and 8 November 2026, the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan screened more than 250 million people, carried out over 110 million chest X-rays and over 30 million rapid diagnostic tests, and found 4.864 million new TB cases, including 1.497 million asymptomatic cases.

What is drug-resistant TB, and how is it treated now?
Drug-resistant TB does not respond to standard first-line drugs. Shorter, six-month, all-oral regimens are replacing older treatments that lasted up to two years and included injections. The share of rifampicin-resistant patients on these regimens rose from 18% in 2024 to 42% in 2025 — but only 42% of estimated drug-resistant cases are enrolled in treatment at all.

Is tuberculosis curable?
Yes. Drug-susceptible TB is cured with about six months of antibiotics, provided the patient completes the full course. Early testing, complete treatment and good nutrition are the keys to recovery.

Final thoughts

The WHO Global TB Report 2026 tells two stories at once. The first is that a large, determined programme can move the numbers: India screened a quarter of a billion people, found nearly five million cases, cut deaths by 38% and cured 94 out of every 100 patients it treated. That is one of the largest public-health achievements of recent years, and it happened in the country with the heaviest TB burden on Earth. The second story is that it is not enough yet. A million people still died in a single year, most drug-resistant patients still never reach treatment, and the world is still moving too slowly to end the disease. India’s progress shows what works. The report’s warning shows what happens if the world stops doing it. Both halves of that story deserve to be read together — because the next report will be decided by which one governments act on.