A research cum intervention multi-centric study to strengthen National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) by implementing programme guidelines for TB using novel strategies to address the various challenges faced by the programme in selected states and specific population/communities in India

Tuberculosis, one of the deadliest infectious diseases poses a major threat to public health. According to WHO 2020 Global TB report, annually 10 million new TB cases are reported, with estimated 1.5 million deaths due to TB (Harding, 2020, Global TB Report, 2020). India accounts for a staggering 27% of the global TB burden (Harding, 2020). This calls for an urgent need to focus on hastening the efforts and to adopt aggressive strategies to eradicate this Mycobacterium. India envisions elimination of tuberculosis by the year 2025 (Global TB Report, 2020). This project aims to develop a novel comprehensive model to address these challenges and demonstrate the impact of these strategies in reducing the TB incidence in the vulnerable communities/areas/settings with high burden of the disease, to achieve TB elimination target of 2025. In this project we would like to address common challenges existing in various communities/areas/settings which include Stigma, community practices that are hard to remove in-spite of counseling, health system challenges, access to health care etc, which hamper proper implementation of the national programme guidelines. New challenges that may be encountered while implementing the NTEP strategies, will be addressed in a structered manner through novel approaches, diagnosing all new cases in the defined select area at the earliest using community camps. Working closely with state TB department and with proper and early initiation of the treatment of cases and preventive therapy of the contacts and vulnerable population in the community, this project aims to break the transmission chain and achieve 60-80% reduction in incidence of TB using cost effective novel model.