District Health Society (DHS), National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) and team Anamaya at Udalguri have joined hands to gear up for the success of Ashwasan, a campaign designed to increase awareness about TB and find active cases. Ashwasan is one of the early steps of the Tribal TB Initiative, a joint effort of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, that Anamaya is facilitating in select states.Â
The success of Ashwasan heavily relies on intensive and effective community engagement. TB Champions, people who survived the disease through adherence to the complete treatment regimen, can play a crucial role in this. Recognising the same, the DHS organised a meeting with TB Champions in early January 2021. The District TB Officer (DTO), representatives from District Public Private Mix (PPM) Coordinator, all took part in the meeting. A jointly developed action plan for Ashwasan was presented and discussed with the TB Champions to seek their support in walking towards the aim of TB-mukt Bharat. The TB Champions expressed their willingness to aid Ashwasan’s efforts.
Mintu Saikia and Pubari Khaklary, two key members of our team in Udalguri are relentlessly working to bring in further collaboration and support for Ashwasan’s success.