Tuberculosis forums to be set up for community engagement 

According to the Government Order, meetings of the forums will be mandatory every six months.
Image for representational purpose only
Image for representational purpose only

BENGALURU:  Six months after the Union government sent guidelines to form Tuberculosis (TB) forums at state and district levels, a Government Order for setting up of state TB forums (with 33 stakeholders) and district TB forums (with 16 stakeholders), to eradicate the disease completely, was finally issued on November 30. 

According to the Government Order, meetings of the forums will be mandatory every six months. The members of the forums will be drawn from a cross-section of society — from the prisons department (as TB spreads in closed spaces), state AIDS prevention society, women and child development department, Anganwadis and NGOs among others.

Despite the best efforts of health systems, about 40 per cent of people who develop TB in India are either not diagnosed, or are not reported. Even among those reported and/or diagnosed for the disease, many are lost to follow up, both with drug sensitive and drug resistant TB. Patients, who are being treated in the private sector, do not get adequate treatment support.

TB patients are affected by social and political factors (such as stigma and discrimination, availability and access to services at a convenient time and in their social context like work, migration, gender etc.) and economic barriers (for example, the cost of transport, ancillary medicines and investigations in private sector). 

Community members of the forums will be formed from patient forums, civil society, community-based organisations, ASHAs, Gram Sevaks and NGOs. Manjula M, Joint Director, Tuberculosis, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said, “We have a target of eliminating TB by 2020. All stakeholders will be part of the forum who will contribute their knowledge to doing the activities of TB elimination. In WCD department, Anganwadi workers will help us in identifying patients from villages. Prisons department is also a major stakeholder as it spreads in closed settings.” “So inmates will require special screening along with those in shelter homes, old-age homes etc, she added.

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