Health ministry to tweak TB campaign
March 23rd, 2011 - 1:55 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, March 23 (IANS) The ministry of health and family welfare is all set to re-position its media and public awareness campaign for the control of tuberculosis (TB), an official said here Wednesday.
“The direct observed treatment (DOTS) programme for TB will now focus on completing the course of medication that goes on for six months,” Ashok Kumar, deputy director general of the central TB division, said at the Resource group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health (REACH)-Lilly awards function for excellence in TB reporting.
“Earlier, the DOTS was mainly popularised for providing cure for TB,” he added.
Over three million people die every year in India due to TB.
“Under the revised national TB control programme, we want to make sure that we minimise the number of patients who reach fatal multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB stage,” Kumar said in the run-up to the World TB Day Thursday.
Under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) that came over a decade ago in the country, TB patients are given the six-month long DOTS treatment where the patient is given seven tablets a day on every alternate day in a week.
The experts emphasised the role of local and national media on creating awareness about the disease.
“Early diagnosis of the disease is very crucial,” said Nalini Krishnan, director of REACH, a voluntary organisation that works on creating awareness on TB and community health.
“Media can help reduce the social stigma and mental burden associated with TB in India,” he added.
- 'Time to scale up work on TB control' - Jan 24, 2012
- India battles staggering tuberculosis burden (March 24 is World TB Day) - Mar 23, 2011
- Central team to probe drug resistant TB cases in Mumbai - Jan 17, 2012
- Awareness programmes mark World Tuberculosis Day in Delhi - Mar 24, 2011
- Berlin 2010: TB, HIV and Lung Health: From research and innovation to solutions - Nov 02, 2010
- 'Urgent measures needed to control drug resistant TB' - Mar 23, 2012
- India, China account for 45 percent multi-drug resistant TB - Aug 27, 2010
- Government to rope in chemists to fight TB (March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day) - Mar 24, 2012
- Global Fund approves TB funding for government and civil society led proposal in India - Dec 07, 2009
- Cabinet approves scaling up services of management of drug resistant tuberculosis - Mar 03, 2011
- New focus to national TB control programme - Mar 23, 2011
- TB causing half million annual deaths in South-East Asia: WHO - Mar 22, 2012
- Can TB patients say "Rights Here, Right Now"? - Jul 21, 2010
- Gonorrhea cure gets tough as bug grows drug resistant - Nov 08, 2011
- A childhood free from tuberculosis (TB) - Jul 17, 2010
Tags: ashok kumar, community health, deputy director general, dots, health media, health ministry, mdr tb, mental burden, ministry of health, ministry of health and family welfare, national tuberculosis, public awareness campaign, resource group, social stigma, tb control, tb patients, tuberculosis control, tuberculosis tb, voluntary organisation, world tb