Program Details Coordinator Location No. of Staff : 4 |
The Need
For India 's majority, quality, affordable medical help is still elusive. Tuberculosis (TB), Measles, HIV, Tetanus, the BIG 4 in India , claims over 10 lakhs lives (90% of deaths due to infectious diseases).
1. 200 out 100,000 people have TB in India!
2. Every minute a person is newly infected by TB
3. 30 % of TB patients worldwide live in Indian
4. Over 459,000 people die of the disease each year - more than HIV, STDs, malaria, leprosy and tropical disease combined
The repercussions are enormous:
1. 90% of those infected are in the productive age
2. 3 lakhs children leave school annually due to their parents' catching TB
3. 1 lakh infected women are thrown out of their homes every year
All of us carry the TB germs. But people facing malnourishment are more vulnerable to falling ill.
But TB has a known cure.
HOPE Foundations' initiative to control TB
Right from 1991, HOPE Foundation encouraged people showing symptoms of TB to get help from the National TB Program (NTP) – an initiative of WHO. Under NTP, all Government Hospitals (GH) and Primary Health Centres (PHC) in India diagnosed and treated TB patients.
In 1995, HOPE Foundation became an implementing agency of the NTP at Porur, just outside Chennai. In 1997, the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) replaced the NTP. RNTCP follows the Directly Observed Treatment Strategy (DOTS) - tablets are administered in the presence of the RNTCP Staff.
HOPE Foundation runs the RNTCP in Porur (Population: 3 lakhs). The program functions from six TB Units, each connected with a GH/PHC. HOPE keeps a microscope, donated by the Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation, at one of the units.
The doctors at the GH/PWC refers patients with symptoms of TB to the adjoining TB Unit. The disease is confirmed with sputum tests (microscopy) conducted by the TB unit and/or x-rays from other agencies. People with TB are immediately put on a six month course of medication (tablets). The patient comes to the Unit on specified dates for the tablets.
Designing a course of medication is easy. Carrying it out among the uneducated and poor families over a large area is a challenge. The medication is heavy, and the patients - factory workers, labourers or small shop owners - abandon courses midway!
The program coordinator and his staff heartily take up the responsibility of curing their patients. They detect defaulters, follow them up at their home or work place and then and there administer the tablets.
Constant heart to heart talks between the staff and the patients have enabled the default rate to be kept to as low as 4%.
How you can help...
The RNTCP incurs a monthly cost of Rs. 21,900 for HOPE Foundation. You can adopt part or whole of the total budget for a specific period.
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