Lives Touched
2017 - 2019
Rajpur Sonarpur Municipality, South 24 Parganas, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, West Bengal
The Story
Tuberculosis elimination is a significant challenge for governments of developing countries all over the World. TB is one of the top 10 causes of death globally. Millions of people continue to fall sick with TB each year and India is in the top position among 30 high TB burden countries in the World (WHO, 2018). With an aim to be a party to the massive global drive in combating TB , Hijli INSPIRATION partnered CINI ASHA in the USAID supported Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative ( THALI ) program.
The primary focus of the project was to reverse the grim trend of Tuberculosis (TB) by working with multiple stakeholders in urban areas of Kolkata and South 24 Paraganas. This supported the State TB Cell in timely identification of more presumptive cases and ensured proper health care services for the TB patients from those defined groups. The three key
aims of the program have been –
- Strengthening the Existing Govt. Process & Initiatives
- Awareness Generation for Stigma Mitigation
- Promoting the Concept of a Healthy Lifestyle of Patients
The programme was a community change agent or Touch Agent led approach aimed at developing a community resource and sensitisation through peer counselling.
Impact
| Total Households contacted | 4,800 |
| Total Households intervened | 2,500 |
| Suspect Patients identified | 250 |
| Positive cases converted out of suspect cases | 30 |
| Adhar Linkage for DBT | 56 |
| Patients received DBT | 55 |
| Patients cured | 24 |
Families and community sensitized – stigma associated with Tuberculosis addressed to some extent.
Hijli INSPIRATION partnered THALI in a pioneering initiative that dealt with addressing the high burden of TB among migrant workers. A large section of the unorganized labour particularly in urban areas are migrants who face higher exposure to TB infection due to overcrowded living and working conditions having negative economic effects not only at the household level and their families but also at a societal level. The situation gets profound for migrants and particularly unorganized labour since they are faced with in-built barriers to accessing the services. Hijli INSPIRATION worked with 10 categories and adopted a Workplace approach to address the issues of unorganized sector workers which was shared with the State for including the excluded unorganized sector with special focus on migrants.
400
Migrant Workers touched
8
Suspect cases identified and linked with treatment facility
Champions of Change
Making Changes in Health and Wealth
Md Rafique (Name Changed) a TB Patient from Bihar working as a rickshaw puller in Manicktala, Kolkata had to travel to Bihar at regular intervals for treatment purpose. Missing out on wages and incurring a financial loss was a recurrent problem. Lack of knowledge about treatment facilities in Kolkata and his ignorance of Direct Benefit Transfer accentuated the problem. Under the programme, Rafique was linked to the Manicktala TB Hospital from where he received the treatment. DBT was facilitated and his passbook reflected that money had been transferred to his account. Travelling to Bihar for treatment purpose was arrested and gradually he got back to work. This enabled him to earn his regular wages and get over his dire financial condition. Eventually he was cured and now is leading a good life.
Raju is a Transformed Man Now
Raju Chatterjee, 46 yrs old (name changed) belongs to Ward no 32. He was a van puller and he managed to earn enough to support his family of four. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed in February, 2018 with Cat-I (Extra Pulmonary). He was immediately linked to the medical facilities available to him. Besides this, he was also counselled and received adequate nutritional support to help him cope with the disease. But it was found that his smoking and drinking habits were detrimental to his ill-health. THALI team counselled him to give up smoking and drinking – which he eventually did. At present Raju Chatterjee is recuperating from the disease. He has completed the course of medicine and had been very cooperative during the medication and took all the medicines as he was instructed to. Timely diagnosis, proper medication and nutrition have helped him to heal.
The Story of Two Sisters
Ruhanna Ahmed (name changed) a 14-year-old girl resides with her ailing parents and siblings in Maniktala Urban Area. Ruhanna’s father suffers from spinal cord injury while her mother has chronic skin diseases which have led them to a condition of joblessness and extreme poverty – coupled with unhygienic living conditions.
Ruhanna when her elder sister was already a TB patient. Discussions with the mother revealed that although Ruhanna’s elder sister was under treatment – it was only for a brief one month. Their struggle for survival and meeting the basic minimum needs was so intense that the mother could not take care of the treatment protocols and her condition was gradually deteriorating. Suspecting Ruhanna to be a patient, the Touch Agent took her for testing and she tested positive too.
INSPIRATION team adopted a 3 pronged strategy to combat the above :
- To arrange for treatment and subsequent follow up by Touch Agents.
- To create bank linkage for availing of Direct Benefit Transfer facilities mandated for TB patients.
- To tag the patient family with Organisations/Institutions who would support them with nutritional support till the patients were cured.