Bihar's TB Strategy: Engaging Private Doctors Transforms Tuberculosis Control

• Bihar revamped its TB control strategy by formally engaging private doctors through Private Provider Support Agencies (PPSAs) to track and treat patients outside the public system.
• The National TB Prevalence Survey (2019–21) revealed that 67% of TB patients in Bihar sought care from the private sector, validating the state's early intervention.
• Since 2020, 59% of the 1,001,340 notified TB cases in Bihar came from the private sector, with private sector notifications increasing 24.5-fold from 2013 to 2024.
• PPSAs onboarded private players to notify TB cases on the Nikshay portal, ensure HIV testing, facilitate drug-resistance testing, and enroll patients in nutritional support programs.
• Bihar also invested in advanced diagnostics, deploying 91 CB-NAAT machines, 560 Truenat machines, 495 digital X-ray machines, and ultra-portable AI-enabled handheld X-ray devices for early detection.

Why It Matters: Bihar's successful TB control model, integrating private healthcare, significantly improved case notification and treatment adherence.