The Government of India, made TB notification by private healthcare providers mandatory from May 2012 onwards. The National TB Programme developed a case based web based online reporting mechanism called NIKSHAY. However, the notification by private providers has been very low. We conducted the present study to determine the awareness, practice and anticipated enablers related to TB notification among private practitioners in Mysore city during 2014. A cross-sectional study was conducted among private practitioners of Mysore city in south India. The private practitioners in the city were identified and 258 representative practitioners using probability proportional to size were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. Among the 258 study participants, only 155 (60%) respondents agreed to a detailed interview. Among those interviewed, 141 (91%) were aware that TB is a notifiable disease; however 127 (82%) of them were not aware of process of notification and NIKSHAY. Only one in six practitioners was registered in NIKSHAY, while one in three practitioners are notifying without registration. The practitioners expected certain enablers from the programme like free drugs, training to notify in NIKSHAY and timely feedback. 74 (47%) opined that notification should be backed by legal punitive measures. The programme should develop innovative strategies that provide enablers, address concerns of practitioners while having simple mechanisms for TB notification. The programme should strengthen its inherent capacity to monitor TB notification.

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is evaluated by considering a family's income, level of education, and occupation of head of household. SES serves as significant indicator of the family's overall health and their access to resources. Modified Kuppuswamy scale is among the most used tools to assess SES of urban residents, but it necessitates regular updates due to consistent inflation. In this study, present updated version of modified Kuppuswamy socioeconomic scale for the year 2023 in India. Additionally, we have further refined the income points for the scales that were previously underutilized. This refinement aims to ensure more accurate categorization of families based on their societal position.

The global burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) is immense, with numbers expected to rise to over 550 million by 2030. Countries in Asia, such as India and China, will bear the brunt of this unfolding epidemic. Persons with DM have a significantly increased risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB) that is two to three times higher than in persons without DM. This article reviews the epidemiology and interactions of these two diseases, discusses how the World Health Organization and International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease developed and launched the Collaborative Framework for the care and control of TB and DM, and examines three important challenges for care. These relate to 1) bi-directional screening of the two diseases, 2) treatment of patients with dual disease, and 3) prevention of TB in persons with DM. For each area, the gaps in knowledge and the priority research areas are highlighted. Undiagnosed, inadequately treated and poorly controlled DM appears to be a much greater threat to TB prevention and control than previously realised, and the problem needs to be addressed. Prevention of DM through attention to unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles and childhood and adult obesity must be included in broad non-communicable disease prevention strategies. This collaborative framework provides a template for action, and the recommendations now need to be implemented and evaluated in the field to lay down a firm foundation for the scaling up of interventions that work and are effective in tackling this dual burden of disease.

Pediatric tuberculosis is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in children due to high transmission, poor diagnostic tools, and various respiratory diseases mimicking TB. Identifying risk factors will provide evidence for clinicians to strongly relate their diagnosis to the associated pathology. Studies were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar, systematically reviewed, and meta-analyzed for various risk factors and their association with pediatric TB. Meta-analysis depicted that four out of eleven risk factors were significant—contact with known TB cases (OR 6.42 [3.85,10.71]), exposure to smoke (OR 2.61 [1.24, 5.51]), overcrowding in the houses (OR 2.29 [1.04, 5.03]), and, poor household conditions (OR 2.65 [1.38, 5.09]). Although significant odds ratio estimates were obtained, we observed heterogeneity in the studies included.    Conclusion: The study findings demand the constant screening of risk factors such as contact with known TB cases, exposure to smoke, overcrowding, and, poor household conditions for the development of pediatric TB. What is Known:• Knowledge of the risk factors of a disease is of utmost importance in the planning and institution of its control measures. Well-established risk factors in the occurrence of TB in the pediatric group are HIV positivity, older age and close contact with a known case of TB. What is New:• In addition to what is already known; this review and meta-analysis has identified exposure to indoor smoking, overcrowding and poor household conditions as important risk factors for developing pediatric TB.• Implications of the study: The findings highlight that in addition to routine contact screening for the pediatric group, the children living in poor household conditions and getting exposed to passive indoor smoking demand more attention to prevent the development of pediatric TB.