iGovernment
30 November 2010
By Chandrabindu
Ranchi Jharkhand, India

The campaign is in tune with the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme to eradicated the disease with the help of civil society
Jharkhand government has launched a campaign to eradicate Tubercles Bacillus (TB) or tuberculosis from the state.

The campaign, titled Axshya launched in association with a non–governmental organisation –Care– aims at improving the reach, visibility and effectiveness of the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme with the help of civil society.

The campaign intends to cover seven districts in the state– including Bokaro, Dhanbad, East Singhbhum, Dumka, Godda, Koderma and Simdega.

The select districts in the state are a part of the national level strategy to enhance the reach of TB treatment to 374 districts of 23 States.

"Under the programme, the government agencies in support of the voluntary organisations will attempt to improve access of the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course) services," National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Jharkhand Director Aradhna Patnaik said.

"Brining awareness about the disease among the people was first thing that we wanted to do to start the campaign," said Blesson Samual, a member of the World Vision, the agency tasked to re–implement the TB control programme in the state by Care.

As per the national–level mission, the campaign intends to eradicate TB from the country by the year 2015. "Apart from bringing awareness among the masses, we would strive for rapid diagnosis of the drug–resistant bacteria of the disease," Samual said.

Funds to the tune of US $ 2 million have been sanctioned by the government for implementing the project in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Issues like setting up state–of–the are laboratory to detect and follow up drug resistant cases and funding gaps for procurement of second line drug for all multiple resistant TB would be address, the World Vision representative added.