Governance
‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega’ Campaign
- 26 Sep 2019
- 4 min read
The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has launched the ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign’, along with the National TB Prevalence Survey.
- He also released the TB India Report (2019).
- As per the TB India report 2019, 21.5 lakh cases of tuberculosis were notified to the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) in 2018 — a 16% increase from 2017.
- He also launched an all-oral regimen kit for multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (TB) patients which does not include injections which are painful and can have side effects.
- He also announced a partnership with the World Bank which is providing a $400 million credit for accelerating TB response in 9 states through private sector engagement and other critical interventions.
- He also awarded states for their excellent performance in tackling TB.
- Among states with a large population (>50 lakhs), Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were awarded as best performers.
- Tripura and Sikkim were recognized for their efforts among medium population (less than 50 lakhs) states.
- Puducherry, and Daman and Diu were judged as the best performers among Union Territories.
TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign
- It has three strong pillars which include clinical approach, public health component and active community participation.
- It aims to improve and expand the reach of TB care services across the country by 2022.
- This includes preventive and promotive approaches and proposes potentially transformative interventions such as engagement with the private sector health care providers, inter-ministerial partnerships, corporate sector engagement, latent TB infection management, and community engagement.
- The interventions will be accompanied by a comprehensive, mass media and communications campaign to generate awareness about the disease and the free treatment services available under the government program.
The National TB Prevalence Survey
- The Union Health Minister flagged off a van for the National TB Prevalence Survey.
- In all, 25 such vans will be part of the prevalence survey, which shall take 6 months and be carried out across the country.
- This shall present national and state-level data, which will be used as a policy tool for further interventions.
Other Recent Initiatives
- The Government of India has partnered with the Global Fund to launch JEET (Joint Effort for Elimination of TB), a private sector engagement program operating across the country.
- In April 2018, the government launched the Nikshay Poshan Yojana, a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme to provide nutritional support to TB patients. Under the scheme, TB patients have been receiving Rs. 500 per month for the entire duration of treatment. Since its inception, a total amount of Rs. 427crore has been paid to over 26 lakhs beneficiaries through direct transfers to their bank accounts.
