By Matters India Reporter

Hyderabad: The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), the largest non-governmental health organization in the country, has reached out to 20 million people with awareness on tuberculosis (TB).

The TB is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. In 2016, 10.4 million people fell ill and 1.7 million died from the disease. Over 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Seven countries account for 64 percent of the total, with India leading the count, followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Most of the member institutions of CHAI have been involved in case-finding and treatment completion for several years in their own geographical areas. Since 2010, CHAI with the support of the Global Fund, through TB UNION has been reaching out to people with TB.

CHAI started the project with 26 districts, and from April 2012, scaled up the work to 96 districts in the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, Father Dr. Mathew Abraham, director general, CHAI, said.

Some strategies used in reaching the people:

community meetings: to mobilize, sensitize and advocate with existing community groups on TB care and control; In villages where all the residents are made aware of TB and committed to TB control (the first move for TB free villages);

visit the houses of marginalized and vulnerable communities, inform them about TB, its symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) services;

sensitization on patient charter: To make TB patients aware of their rights and responsibilities, empower them through this knowledge, make the relationship between patients and health care providers a mutually beneficial one, and Facilitate the Involvement of people with TB in prevention, treatment, and care; and reaching out to prison inmates:

To increase awareness about TB among prison inmates and prison staff.

In addition to these strategies, 34 kiosks were established, 665 qualified private practitioners engaged, 175 private hospitals engaged, and 311 private hospitals were engaged. Achievements so far: 20 million people reached out with awareness on TB, 5 Million households reached, 94 Thousand community meetings conducted, 150 Thousand prison inmates reached out, 600 Thousand symptomatic identified, 400 Thousand symptomatic tested and 45 Thousand symptomatic diagnosed and followed up.

One of the beneficiaries of CHAI’s TB control is Manoj Mahto from Jharkhand state, North India.

In February 2017, CHAI team conducted a community meeting in Ramnagar village, Dumri Block, Giridih District, Jharkhand state. The village is surrounded by coal mines. Majority of people are daily laborers or marginal farmers.

During the meeting, CHAI staff Binod Rawani, met Manoj Mahto, who had been bed-ridden for more than one month due to a severe cough and fever. The family had already spent lots of money for his treatment at a local clinic by selling his goat, cows and ornaments. But, due to the financial crisis, he could not continue treatment. Neither he nor his family members knew about TB and treatment facility available in the nearest government hospital

CHAI facilitated his diagnosis and treatment with RNTCP and after two months of regular medication, he becomes sputum- negative. He gained weight and started going for work. Now he is in the last phase of his treatment and is happy. After becoming fully healthy, he wishes to share his experience and educate people about RNTCP treatment.

The CHAI is committed, according to its motto, to bringing “good health for all”. The network has 76,000 healthcare professionals, three universities, five Doctors’ colleges, 3500 institutions and over 1,000 nuns who are doctors, mostly engaged in rural areas.