In a bid to rid the country of TB, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targeting to eliminate the disease from the country by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDG) aim to eliminate the disease globally.
TFM Report
With an aim to eliminate Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025, National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), Manipur is launching an initiative titled “Active Case Finding (ACF)”, going door-to-door to hunt down hidden cases.
A sensitisation program was held for the media fraternity on ACF on Monday at Medical Directorate, Lamphel, imphal. Journalists were briefed about the disease and the ways used to eliminate it.
State TB officer Dr Thangpa Serto informed that starting April 15, an exercise (ACF) will be launched to detect active cases in all the districts of the state. District TB centres will visit areas which are hard to reach where there might be vulnerable people. A target population has already been mapped, he added.
Dr Thangpa maintained that there might be cases which have not been reported to TB centres. The reason might be stigma or ignorance, he said, urging the public to co-operate with the exercise. A TB patient can transmit upto 10 individuals in a year, he added.
If any case is detected, medicine will be provided free of cost and nutritional support will also be given during the treatment, he assured.
WHO consultant, who is also the NTEP consultant, Dr Pallav presented a slideshow on how the disease is being fought. He also spoke on the four strategic steps used – Detection, Treatment, Prevention, and Build.
In a bid to rid the country of TB, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targeting to eliminate the disease from the country by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDG) aim to eliminate the disease globally.
According to data provided by NTEP, there were 1410 TB patients in the state between April 2020 to March 2021, amongst which 1230 were new cases. 753 cases are on treatment.