Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 24 (ANI): On 'World TB Day' Prime Minister Narendra Modi put forward India's vision of 'One Earth, One Health' and praised the nation for fulfilling another resolution of Global Good by organizing 'One World TB Summit' at Rudrakash Convention Centre in Varanasi on Friday.

"It is a matter of happiness that this summit is happening in Kashi. Some time ago, India also took the initiative to take forward the vision of 'One Earth, One Health' and now through 'One World TB Summit' India is fulfilling another resolution of Global Good", said PM as he launched various initiatives to enhance countries' fight against TB.

Initiatives like TB-Mukt Panchayat - which will be an official Pan-India rollout of a shorter TB Preventive Treatment (TPT) is launched by PM. Apart from that schemes like Family-centric care model for TB is also got launched and India's Annual TB Report 2023 got tabled at the summit.

Listing down India's initiative against TB, PM praised the country for doing a great job. "In the last 9 years, India has worked together on many fronts in this fight against TB. India has done a great job in the fight against TB through people's participation"Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who accompanied PM at the summit applauded PM Modi's resolution to make India TB-free by 2025 and said, "A resolution was taken by the World Health Organisation in 2018 to make the world TB-free by 2030. In this connection, PM Modi took forward the resolution to make India TB-free by 2025 -- today, we are near it""Today is world TB day and whenever we talk about this we always think of winning over this disease. With the spirit of Jan-Bhagidari, PM is working relentlessly to achieve the goal of TB Mukt Bharat by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030. On World TB Day, let us pledge to contribute towards eliminating TB for a healthyprosperous India", Said Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya during his address.

WHO is calling for intensified whole-of-government, whole-of-society action to end TB in the South-East Asia Region and globally, estimates that the Region needs at least US$ 3 billion annually to avert nearly 4.5 million new TB cases and prevent more than 1.5 million TB deaths by 2025. Countries and partners must urgently - and sustainably - increase funding availability and strengthen investments, recognizing that for every dollar invested, 40 are returned. (ANI)