Multi-pronged policy interventions, including nutritional support, are paying rich dividends in the fight against tuberculosis
The pandemic has been a harsh learning curve for all of us. I am proud to say that not only did we manage to counter the virus through widespread testing, reaching the most remote parts of the country and ushering in community-level interventions to ensure that the protocols are followed, we also conducted the world’s largest vaccination drive.
Further, the commendable efforts of our frontline health workers and programme implementers ensured that other healthcare services, not just for COVID-19, continued uninterrupted. In this regard, our efforts to counter another infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB), continued unabated during the pandemic.
Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presciently recognised the issue’s seriousness in 2018 when he laid out his vision to eliminate TB by 2025 – five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target. With less than three years to go for the deadline, it is essential that we build upon the achievements of the country’s National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) and look for ways to sharpen strategies going forward.
We already have well-oiled policies in place that seek to mitigate the impact of TB in the community. Whether it is treatment that’s available for free – irrespective of where the patient seeks care, public or private sector – or ensuring that screening and diagnosis is done at the remotest of places, we have robust fundamentals.
At the same time, we have recognized the importance of not only focussing on the clinical nature of the disease, but to implement policies that blend health and social interventions to support people affected by the disease in a more holistic manner.
Here, I commend the TB programme for always being proactive in supporting policies that strive to strengthen social support measures for patients. In 2018, a detailed guidance document was developed which highlighted learnings from social support interventions across the country, which had the potential for further scaling up. These lessons or best practices, at their core, aim to support the TB-affected patients over the course of their treatment period by ensuring targeted incentives and nutrition support.
Considering how important a nutritious diet is to counter TB, the government has introduced a crucial nutrition support scheme, Nikshay Poshan Yojana. Through the programme, each notified TB patient is entitled to Rs 500 each month for the entire duration of treatment via Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). From the time of its launch in 2018, the total amount paid through DBT under NPY is upwards of Rs 1,488 crores to more than 57 lakh TB patients.
In addition, the TB programme is instituting a community support mechanism. Under this initiative, a wide array of stakeholders – cooperative societies, corporate entities, elected representatives, non-governmental organizations, political parties etc., – will be presented with an opportunity to ‘adopt’ districts and blocks across states in India, in the fight against TB. The aim is to galvanize social support from different strands of society for TB patients, so that they are better equipped – physically and mentally – to fight the disease.
Such concerted support is essential for TB patients as they need to adhere to a strict treatment and care routine considering the strong anti-TB drugs, which are needed to counter TB. Ensuring that support comes from different groups and individuals is a good way to nurture a sense of belonging to a common social order. A sense of togetherness in this difficult battle against tuberculosis is what this community support initiative will aim to forge. Those who wish to help would be able to choose their preferred form of support: nutrition, diagnostic and vocational. The support may also be applicable to immediate family members of the patient if the supporter chooses to.
Such an initiative can slowly but surely steel up the very foundations of our society at the grassroots, equipping the people with the right resources to combat this disease.
This spirit of collective mitigation is also in line with the ideals of Jan Andolan or people’s movement against TB. It was in 2020 that the ‘TB-Mukt Bharat’ campaign was launched, calling for a Jan Andolan against TB for the first time. The idea has been to generate greater awareness about TB, address stigma around it, and augment access to all available TB services under the national TB programme. The national TB programme’s community support initiative is certainly in sync with the tenets of the country’s Jan Andolan against TB. I am confident that as more and more people from disparate backgrounds, including corporate leaders, elected representatives and other influential community voices become involved in this movement, TB will be eroded from our midst. TB harega, desh jeetega!
(The author is Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare)