TB Eradication & Nutritional Support
The Need
For over 50 years, India has been actively endeavoring to control Tuberculosis. Despite that, TB has managed to continue to be India’s most severe health issues with nearly 1500 deaths every day. One of the biggest challenges India faces in eradication of TB is the large number of blind-spot cases, cases that don’t come under the radar, cases which are either diagnosed incorrectly or not diagnosed at all, or the cases where improper or insufficient treatment is done. Even today many cases are not recognized, diagnosed nor reported for treatment. The number of such cases is estimated to be over a million every year. Not only does it hamper the TB eradication efforts, on the contrary, this contributes to the silent spread of the disease, in addition to several patients dying without proper treatment.
Another, impediment is the patients not completing their course of medication, which lasts for about 6-9 months depending on the cases. There are several contributing factors to this, especially in the rural areas, including lack of awareness and commitment about completing the course of medication, poverty, malnutrition etc. Apart from that the social stigma attached to the disease and lack of a robust emotional support system breaks the spirit of the patient and the families.
Government, through it various schemes and established systems is doing a mammoth effort to eradicate TB, through the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme. The National Strategic Plan For Tuberculosis Elimination has been drawn up in 2017, with the goal to eradicate TB from India by 2025, a good five year ahead of the Global Goal of 2030 for eradication of TB from the World. We now, already in 2022, have only three years to achieve this National Goal. The National Strategic Plan For Tuberculosis Elimination 2017-2025 describes the strategy and steps that need to be undertaken to eliminate TB. However, for the programme to be successful, it requires active participation from all segments of the society, in addition to the central and state Governments, including the civil society organizations, private sector organization, international agencies, local bodies, volunteers and development partners, medical practitioners, as well as research institutions.
References: Guidance Document on Community Engagement Under National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme; Central TB Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India. September 2021.
In a Nutshell
TB leads to nearly 1500 deaths everyday
Many cases don’t come under the radar for various reasons and miss treatment.
Over 1 million missed cases every year.
Malnutrition, social stigma & lack of emotional support system are some of the reasons for patients not completing their treatment course.
Our Commitment & Engagement
A 360 degree support is far more required especially in vulnerable and high-risk cases of patients and rural India definitely falls under those categories.
Hence, we have committed ourselves to the contribute our efforts towards
- Nutritional support to TB patients for the treatment period
- Patients’ and their families’ commitment to complete the prescribed treatment duration without stopping medication
- Emotional Support and supportive ecosystem for the patients and their families
- Active engagement in support system post-treatment
We are currently engaged in the Baldeo and Farah Blocks of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, partnering with the District TB Office to provide dry ration and nutritional supplements to the TB patients in the district on a monthly basis. The goal is to increase the BMI of the patients, ensure the intake required daily calories as prescribed for particular patients, to supplement the daily nutritional intake required for them and to help them stay committed to completing the treatment.
Our Initiatives
Poshan Card
The patients enrolling for our Poshan (Nutrition) Program are registered and are given a Poshan card (Nutrition Card) which records all their details. The details of their weight and the contents of nutrition packets are updated every month when they come to collect their Poshan Packets.
Poshan Calendar
Poshan Calendar is a calendar we give with our Poshan packets to all patients enrolled in our Nutritional Support Program. The calendar helps them remember taking their medicines everyday. they are encouraged to mark on the calendar after they have taken their medicines for the day.
Oath
The patients in our Nutritional Support Program are encouraged to take an oath to take good care of themselves, complete their treatment and take their medicines as required by their doctors. They are also encouraged to seek emotional support. The caregivers of patients are also encouraged to take oath to support their patients in every way.
The oath is printed on the calendar and serves as an everyday reminder and motivation to complete their course and self-care.
Poshan Packet
Poshan Packet is our packet of nutrition support food items e distribute every month to patients. The food items are carefully chosen to ensure the contents are highly nutritious and help provide the 1000 calories, which the patients are required to intake per day. The food items are chosen keeping in the the local food habits and dietary preferences also. Regular feedback is taken from the patients, via phone calls by our volunteers, about the food items provided,
Initiatives In Action
Media Acknowledgement
Care to support our initiatives?
Join us in making an effort to change the world. One village at a time.
The Nutrition Packets are distributed to the TB patients every month. With the number of TB patients being adopted under our Nutritional Support Program are increasing every month. Though the encouraging fact is that more patients are healing and recovering. We still require more funds every month to fulfill the number of nutrition packets required to be distributed.
Should you wish you contribute to our initiative, you may do so by:
- Donating the desired amount (we have the 80G tax exemption certificate, which shall allow the donors an exemption in tax under section 80G)
- Donation in kind of the required food items and nutrition packets (we are happy to have you mentioned as the sponsor on the number of packets you donate)
- Sponsor the Poshan Packet with your brand mentioned on the packets.
All we desire is that the patients we have adopted should be provided with the best nutrition possible so that they recover from TB and are able to lead a good life for themselves and their families. while, at the same time the national target of TB Elimination is achieved by 2025.
Do reach us on the mentioned email id to share your desire to contribute to the initiative.
Thanks.