To control tuberculosis, KMC signs MoU with THALI

After achieving great success in controlling vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue in its 144 wards, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has taken an initiative on improving Tuberculosis (TB) prevention measures in the city.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), TB incidences in Kolkata stands at 10,001 each year, where 1,761 lives are lost every year. The KMC on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative (THALI), a project funded by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen TB-control in the city.

The MoU recognises THALI as 'strategic partner' to the KMC in its efforts to improve rollout of the Central Government's Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).

"We welcome the involvement of THALI as a strategic partner in our fight against TB and together, we hope to reach every nook and cranny across the ten TB districts of the city. We are confident that this strategic partnership will improve case notification rates as well as better final treatment outcomes in TB," said Atin Ghosh, member, Mayor-in-Council (Health), after signing the MoU. The THALI project's main aim is to improve private-sector notification to the government, ensure TB treatment adherence among patients, introduce innovative solutions to TB care and increase awareness about TB across demographics in the city.

In India, one person dies of TB every minute. India bears 27 percent of the world's TB burden, making one in every four TB patients worldwide an Indian. 7,500 Indians develop TB every day which makes the problem is too grim to ignore.

According to the Government of India, in 2016 Bengal was fifth-lowest in private-sector notification TB cases to the government. Levels of tobacco usage and malnutrition, both major contributors to the spread of TB, are high in the region, indicating that the state is a prime breeding ground for the disease.