With the 70th World Health Assembly underway in Geneva, delegates will likely have been alarmed by a new report saying that India might fail to achieve a government target of eliminating tuberculosis by 2025. The study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal also predicts a rise in cases of tuberculosis that is resistant to multiple drugs.

While medical experts agree that the situation is alarming, the Indian government says it is confident in defying these projections by using new drugs. Whether the drugs will really help is yet to be seen as TB is a disease which spreads in unhygienic living conditions in areas of extreme poverty. India is under international pressure to tackle the TB problem, as it accounts for over 1,400 deaths daily.