The Hindu Business Line : ‘Every second Indian is a TB bacteria carrier’

The Health Minister of Kerala, Ms P.K. Sreemathy, speaking at the launch of a media advocacy campaign on TB, ‘Speak Up to Stop TB’, a joint initiative of REACH and Lilly MDR TB Partnership, in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, July 1

More than 50 per cent of India’s population is infected by tuberculosis-causing bacteria or has the organism in the blood stream, but only 10 per cent goes on to become full-blown cases.

The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) offered the best option available to take the TB challenge head on, according to Dr Nalini Krishnan, Director-Projects, at REACH (Resource group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health), a Chennai-based NGO.

Making a presentation at the launch ceremony here of the ‘Speak Up to Stop TB’ campaign being spearheaded in the State by REACH and the Lilly MDR TB Partnership, a global health initiative from Eli Lilly, Dr Krishnan said the awareness level among the general public and healthcare providers was found wanting.

HEALTH HAZARD

This is all the more glaring given that, even today, TB claims two lives every three minutes in the country, making a mockery of one of the most result-oriented control programmes to be taken up anywhere.

TB is a major public health hazard, and should be treated as such. Imperfect or improper handling of one case could potentially leave at least 10 to 15 others exposed to the causative bacteria.

Going forward, concurrent HIV and TB infections and multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) were two major spin-off challenges that the country has to deal with. Indiscriminate prescription of second-line TB drugs and incomplete treatment have combined to increasingly build drug resistance, Dr Krishnan observed.

Earlier, the State Health Minister, Ms P.K. Sreemathy, launched the ‘Speak Up to Stop TB’ campaign. She expressed the hope that the campaign would help create better public awareness about TB.