Tribal TB Initiative

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan launched ‘Tribal TB Initiative’ in pursuit of TB Mukt Bharat. A guidance note was released on Joint Action plan for Tuberculosis(TB) Elimination, a special edition of Tribal Ministry’s publication ‘ALEKH’. A document on Tribal Tuberculosis (TB) Initiative was also released.

More than 104 million tribal population across 705 tribes lives in India. This accounts for about 8.6% of country’s total population. The government has identified 177 tribal districts as high priority districts where severe malnutrition and poor living conditions exists. The lack of awareness in these districts also contribute to the TB problem in theses areas. In the initial period the plan will focus on 161 districts across 18 states. This would involve finding TB active cases and providing provision of TB Preventive Therapy (IPT) to identified vulnerable population. This is to develop long term mechanisms for vulnerability reduction.