Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda launched the Joint Squad for Health (JOSH) Teams under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan on 8 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. In the first phase, the youth-led teams will work across 55 districts in 11 States and Union Territories to push early testing, full treatment and stigma-free care. The launch comes as India has cut TB incidence by 21 percent and raised treatment coverage to 92 percent, moving ahead of the global pace toward the 2030 elimination goal.
What Are JOSH Teams Under TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan?
The Joint Squad for Health (JOSH) Teams are youth-led community squads launched under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan to take TB prevention, testing and treatment support to homes and neighbourhoods. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare implements the initiative jointly with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Ministry of Defence, with support from the Government of NCT of Delhi.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the JOSH Teams on 8 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda led the launch in the presence of Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. Representatives from all 804 districts joined the national event through video link, which showed the country-wide reach of the programme from day one.
In the first phase, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has deployed JOSH Teams in 55 districts across 11 States and Union Territories. The remaining districts will complete orientation and mobilisation soon, after which the initiative will expand across the country. The phased rollout allows close tracking in high-need areas first while building trained youth networks for national scale-up.
How Will JOSH Teams Work on the Ground?
Each JOSH Team works at the block or ward level as the community face of the TB programme. The team conducts regular home visits and local meetings to explain common TB symptoms, the value of early testing and the need to complete the full course of medicines. The focus is on building trust, clearing doubts and motivating people with symptoms to come forward without fear.
| Element of JOSH Team | Detail |
|---|---|
| Team size and mix | 10 youth members with 5 MY Bharat volunteers and 5 NCC cadets |
| Team leader | A designated Class-I officer at the block or ward level |
| Main field tasks | Symptom awareness, active case finding, testing referrals, treatment adherence and stigma reduction |
| Support role | Nutrition awareness, hygiene promotion and counselling against tobacco and substance use |
The MY Bharat platform, which guides and trains young volunteers for nation-building work, supplies a large part of the manpower. The National Cadet Corps (NCC), the tri-services youth organisation under the Ministry of Defence, provides trained cadets with strong discipline and local outreach. Together, the volunteers help identify vulnerable people, connect suspected cases to nearby testing centres and stay in touch with patients till they finish treatment.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also given JOSH Teams new digital and print tools for field work. The JOSH Flipbook and JOSH Brochure support door-to-door counselling with simple visuals and messages. The TB Mukt Bharat App now carries a dedicated JOSH feature for real-time reporting and monitoring of team activities. In addition, Khushi Avatar, an e-Sangini chatbot service available in 12 Indian languages, answers common questions on TB symptoms and treatment and sends timely reminders to take medicines.
What Is the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme?
The National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) is the central programme that guides all TB control work in India. The NTEP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) with the vision of a TB-free India. The programme provides free testing and quality-assured treatment to all TB patients in government facilities and tracks private-sector patients through a common system.
The NTEP grew out of the earlier Revised National TB Control Programme, which used the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) method of supervised medicine intake. The government renamed the programme as NTEP in 2020 to reflect the shift from control to elimination. The National Strategic Plan 2017 to 2025 then set clear targets for finding missing cases, expanding molecular tests and involving communities and private doctors.
The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (PMTBMBA) is the community arm of this effort. President Droupadi Murmu launched the Abhiyaan on 9 September 2022 to turn TB elimination into a people’s movement with support for nutrition, testing and jobs. The government later started the intensified 100 Days TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan on 7 December 2024 in 347 high-priority districts across 33 States and Union Territories to screen vulnerable groups rapidly. The second phase, which began around 24 March 2026, used Ayushman Arogya Shivirs, handheld X-ray machines and the TB Mukt Bharat App to find hidden cases in villages, wards and crowded settings.
The panchayat-level push has produced a visible milestone in 2026. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recognised 67,933 panchayats across 697 districts as TB Mukt in 2026 for meeting local targets on awareness, prevention, testing and treatment. The recognition honours panchayat leaders, health workers and volunteers who carried the national plan into everyday village action.
TB Burden in India: 21 Percent Decline and 92 Percent Treatment Coverage
The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations health agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, tracks TB trends through its annual Global TB Report. The WHO Global TB Report 2025 records that TB incidence in India fell from 237 cases per lakh population in 2015 to 187 cases per lakh in 2024. That is a decline of 21 percent, which is nearly double the global decline of 12 percent during the same period.
Treatment coverage has improved even faster. The WHO report places India’s TB treatment coverage at 92 percent in 2024, up from 53 percent in 2015. Global treatment coverage in the same year stood at 78 percent. The gap shows that India is not only finding more cases but also connecting a larger share of patients to care. The government has linked this gain to decentralised services, wider use of molecular tests, handheld X-ray screening and large-scale community mobilisation.
| Indicator | India | Global Average |
|---|---|---|
| Fall in TB incidence between 2015 and 2024 | 21 percent (237 to 187 per lakh) | 12 percent |
| Treatment coverage in 2024 | 92 percent | 78 percent |
| Global TB burden in 2024 | India accounts for about 26 percent of world cases | 10.7 million people fell ill, 1.23 million died |
India still carries a large share of the world TB load, so steady progress matters for the world as a whole. The South-East Asia region accounts for about one-third of global TB cases, and India is the largest contributor within it. High-risk settings such as crowded urban areas, mines, tea gardens, construction sites and slums remain a special focus because detection gaps there can keep infection chains alive.
What Is Tuberculosis: Causes, Symptoms and Spread?
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The germ most often affects the lungs, which doctors call pulmonary TB. It can also reach other organs such as the kidney, spine, brain and skin, which is called extrapulmonary TB. About one-fourth of the world population carries TB bacteria without falling sick, and only 5 to 10 percent of infected people later develop active disease. Young children, people with weak immunity, diabetes, HIV, undernutrition and tobacco or alcohol use face higher risk.
Common symptoms develop slowly and can stay mild for months. They include prolonged cough lasting more than three weeks, chest pain, cough with blood or mucus, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Symptoms vary when TB affects organs outside the lungs, for example swollen glands in the neck, joint pain, headache or stiffness in the neck. Because early symptoms look like ordinary cough and fever, many patients delay testing and unknowingly pass the infection to others.
Is TB Curable?
Yes. Tuberculosis is preventable and curable in most cases when patients take the full course of antibiotics for four to six months without break. Early diagnosis, regular medicine intake, good nutrition and follow-up tests lead to full recovery and stop further spread to family members.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides standard treatment with antibiotics such as rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. Patients must take the medicines daily for four to six months and must not stop early even after feeling better in a few weeks. Stopping early allows surviving germs to turn drug-resistant and cause relapse. For drug-resistant TB, India now uses shorter all-oral regimens of about six months, known as BPaLM and BDLLfxC, which have lower pill burden and high success rates.
How Does TB Spread?
Tuberculosis spreads through the air when a person with active TB coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings. Nearby people can breathe in the germs, which may stay in indoor air for hours. Only active lung TB spreads infection, while latent infection and TB outside the lungs do not spread.
TB germs spread more easily in closed rooms with poor air flow than outdoors. Close and repeated contact, as within a family living in one house, carries higher risk. People with latent TB infection feel no symptoms and cannot pass germs to others, but they need preventive treatment because the infection can turn active later when immunity weakens.
Prevention, Nutrition Support and Community Action
Tuberculosis prevention starts with early testing and full treatment of every active case because a treated patient soon stops spreading germs. Health workers also trace household contacts and offer TB preventive treatment to children, people living with HIV and others at high risk. Simple habits add strong protection. They include covering the mouth while coughing, keeping rooms well ventilated, maintaining cleanliness, eating nutritious food and avoiding tobacco and heavy alcohol use. The Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, given at birth under the Universal Immunisation Programme, protects young children from severe forms of TB.
Nutrition support is central because undernutrition weakens immunity and slows recovery. Treatment drugs also work better when patients eat a high-protein diet. JOSH Teams carry this message into homes and encourage families to use both government cash aid and community food help during the long treatment period. They also counsel patients to stay connected with health staff, report side effects early and bring family members forward for screening.
Nikshay Portal, Nikshay Poshan Yojana and Nikshay Mitra
The Nikshay Portal is the national web-based tracking system of the NTEP for TB care and surveillance. The Central TB Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare developed the portal with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and WHO India. Health staff in public and private hospitals use the portal to register TB cases, order tests, record medicines, track adherence and transfer patients between centres. The portal also powers direct benefit transfers and live dashboards, and citizens can use the TB Mukt Bharat App and the Nikshay system for registration, information and reporting.
The Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) provides cash for food to all TB patients registered on the portal. The scheme started on 1 April 2018 with ₹500 per month during treatment and the government later raised the amount to ₹1,000 per month. The money reaches Aadhaar-linked bank accounts through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Since 2018, the government has sent more than ₹4,454 crore to over 1.38 crore beneficiaries under the scheme. Patients also receive free chest X-ray and molecular tests such as CBNAAT and TrueNat, along with free anti-TB drugs at government centres.
The Nikshay Mitra initiative adds community help on top of government aid. A Nikshay Mitra, which means a friend of TB patients, is a donor who adopts one or more consenting patients and provides monthly food baskets, counselling or job support. The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan launched the initiative on 9 September 2022, and individuals, companies, faith groups and panchayats can join through the Nikshay portal. The campaign slogan TB Harega Desh Jeetega and the TB-free pledge with downloadable certificate promote this spirit of adoption. By late 2025, more than 6.77 lakh Mitras had joined and distributed over 45 lakh food baskets to patients and, in expanded form, to their household contacts.
World TB Day 2026 Theme and the 2030 Elimination Goal
World TB Day is observed every year on 24 March. The date marks the day in 1882 when German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the germ that causes TB. The finding opened the path to diagnosis and cure, and the world has commemorated 24 March as World TB Day since 1982 to raise awareness about the health, social and economic burden of the disease.
The theme for World TB Day 2026 is Yes! We Can End TB: Led by Countries, Powered by People. The Stop TB Partnership and the WHO present the theme as a call to turn global promises into country-led action with higher domestic funding, rapid use of new tools and strong community leadership. The WHO South-East Asia office has underlined the same message because the region carries about 34 percent of world TB cases and nearly 40 percent of TB deaths. In 2024 alone, an estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB worldwide and 1.23 million died, which keeps the pressure on high-burden countries.
The global Sustainable Development Goal target calls for ending the TB epidemic by 2030 under Goal 3.3, while the WHO End TB Strategy looks further to 2035. India had earlier set an ambitious national target of 2025 and now aims to finish ahead of the 2030 global timeline. The JOSH Teams fit this plan by filling the last-mile gap of finding people who remain outside the formal health system. Faster screening with portable AI-supported X-rays, rapid molecular confirmation and shorter drug-resistant regimens give the youth teams a stronger care chain to which they can refer patients.
The Way Forward
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will expand JOSH Teams from the first 55 districts to the rest of the country after orientation of local volunteers. The expansion will run on block-level leadership, digital tracking through the TB Mukt Bharat App and close coordination with health workers, panchayats and private doctors. Success will depend on finding every missing case early, starting correct treatment without delay and supporting each patient till the final dose.
Technology and local ownership must move together in the next phase. The TB diagnostic network has already grown to 8,540 NAAT laboratories and 87 culture and drug-susceptibility laboratories, with more than 26,700 X-ray units including 500 AI-enabled handheld devices in service. Panchayats recognised as TB Mukt show that village leadership can sustain testing, nutrition help and follow-up. If JOSH Teams keep home visits regular, keep records honest on the app and keep stigma out of conversations, India can convert its 21 percent incidence decline into a final push toward elimination before 2030.
Key Takeaways
- The Joint Squad for Health (JOSH) Teams were launched on 8 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.
- In the first phase, JOSH Teams cover 55 districts across 11 States and Union Territories, with each team having 5 MY Bharat volunteers and 5 NCC cadets led by a Class-I officer.
- India cut TB incidence by 21 percent between 2015 and 2024, from 237 to 187 cases per lakh, against a 12 percent global decline.
- India’s TB treatment coverage rose to 92 percent in 2024, compared with 78 percent globally.
- The Nikshay Poshan Yojana, started on 1 April 2018, now gives ₹1,000 per month to registered TB patients through direct benefit transfer.
- World TB Day is observed on 24 March and the 2026 theme is Yes! We Can End TB: Led by Countries, Powered by People.
