Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited, one of India’s largest privately held pharmaceuticals companies is planning various activities across Gujarat to raise awareness about tuberculosis on World TB Day on March 24, 2016.

The awareness campaign will engage medical professionals, patients and youth through awareness rallies, in-clinic activities, skits/street plays which will highlight the importance of early diagnosis, regular dosage, completion of treatment and patient compliance to help control the disease.

As part of the campaign, a series of activities are being executed starting from March 21 till March 27. In association with Maninagar Medical Association and Sparsh Hospital, Ahmedabad, Patient Awareness Programmes, Free TB diagnosis and blood donation camps will be organised in some parts of the city.

The campaign also includes awareness talks on radio in 35 cities, TB awareness rallies in 10 cities, including Ahmedabad. Besides, TB awareness films which will be shown at 220 locations across the country for highlight the dos and don’ts of the deadly disease.

Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which affects the lungs most commonly. It is a highly contagious bacterial infection that can spread quickly if not caught, isolated and treated early. A TB patient can infect through breathing, coughing, talking, singing, sneezing etc.

In Gujarat, during the April to June, 2015, over 1.25 lakh TB suspects were examined and 13,914 patients were put on DOTS treatment out of the 16,874 patients diagnosed with Sputum Smear Positive. Since the inception of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), in Gujarat alone (as on June 2014), more than 50 lakh TB suspects have been examined and over 10 lakh TB patients have been put on DOTS treatment, according to statistics from health and family welfare department, government of Gujarat. This year the theme World TB Day is ‘Find TB. Treat TB. Working together to eliminate TB’.

TB continues to be leading infectious disease in India, and one of the greatest public health challenges, killing 1 person every 2 minutes. According to the World Health Organisation Report 2015, India is the highest TB burden country. Globally, 9.6 million people developed active TB in 2014, out of which 1.5 million died. As many as 2.5 million people were living with active TB in India in 2014. Over 70,000 were cases related to multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).

Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is amongst the few companies worldwide that has continued to invest in research and development and is committed to government of India’s ‘TB-Mission 2020’ which seeks to eradicate tuberculosis from the country. This is also in line with World Health Organization’s (WHO) ambitious new 20-year (2016-2035) ‘End TB Strategy’, that envisions a world free of TB with zero deaths, disease and suffering.

The company, driven by its vision of providing world-class, yet affordable medicines, had launched Risorine, the world’s first anti-tubercular drug with boosted Rifampicin, in the year 2009. Risorine uses Piperine which acts as a bio enhancer in boosting the efficacy of Rifampicin and helps in improving patient compliance by lowering side effects. The drug has so far, been successfully administered to more than 1 lakh TB patients.

It was one of the first companies to introduce Mycobutol and P-Zide in India and has been serving the Indian medical fraternity for over 30 years with a complete range of anti-TB drugs.