New Delhi: The World Health Organisation has released new guidelines to tackle tuberculosis and undernutrition, recommending that food assistance be provided to households with TB patients while the undernourished or food insecure be screened for the disease.

The shift in the global TB policy is inspired by the pathbreaking Reducing Activation of Tuberculosis by Improvement of Nutritional Status (RATIONS) trial by Indian researchers.

The RATIONS trial , conducted in Jharkhand and published in The Lancet and The Lancet Global, highlighted the vital role nutrition plays in reducing mortality among people living with active TB, as well as in reducing incidence among household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

The ICMR-supported RATIONS trials were led by a research team headed

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