Union government's tuberculosis programme is set to get a major financial  booster from the Round 9 of Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM). The amount of financial support to be disbursed is yet to be announced but the funding will span for a period of five years.

The programme has three principal recipients. These are Central TB Division (CTD), a part of the directorate general of Health Services, Union ministry of Health, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), and World Vision India (WVI), a humanitarian charitable organization.

As a maiden action plan, under the TB control and eradication project, a memorandum of understanding has been inked between the three principal recipients: CTD, IUATLD and WVI with the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) and Population Services International (PSI).

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease will now cover 23 states and 374 districts based on the 2008 data of low performing districts in TB control.

“In Karnataka, the focus is to improve the 16 districts in terms of strengthening laboratories, ensuring regular supply of drugs, monitoring treatment modalities and hygiene conditions,” Dr Kumaraswamy Lal, Karnataka joint director, State Tuberculosis Control, told Pharmabiz.

“In fact, both CHAI and PSI are the implementing agencies for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. A team of coordinators are being identified to work with the district TB officers which will have a training component and segment dedicated for Stop TB Strategy, the erstwhile DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy Short Course) strategy,” he said.

The GFATM project will also review the progress of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). “In addition, it will also provide access to drug resistant tuberculosis control services and mobilize civil services like the Self Help Groups, Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy doctors to support the RNTCP to control the dreaded disease,” stated Subrat Mohanty, technical officer, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

“The emerging problems of drug-resistant TB and TB-HIV co-infection are only beginning to get attention and are beginning to pose as significant health challenges in the near future. There is increasing comprehension globally and in India that a much wider social interest, beyond health systems, is needed to support national TB programmes. As TB is treatable and free diagnosis and treatment exists, the task now is to accelerate universal access through early case detection and supervised treatment completion, while engaging with the emerging challenges of drug-resistant TB and TB-HIV co-infection,” stated Mohantry.

“It is estimated that of the total 10 million patients suffering from TB worldwide, 21 per cent are in India. Although we have a comprehensive RNTCP, there continues to be several grey areas”, he said.

In Karnataka, Bagalkot and Gulbarga have performed poorly in terms of coverage area. The state health and family welfare department is reviewing the DOTS programme in the six northern districts: Raichur, Bidar, Yadir, Bellary, Koppal and Gulbarga. The lack of infrastructure and paucity of doctors have been the key reasons for restricting the spread of the programme. This is where the Round 7 Global Fund project will come in to help the RNTCP, stated Dr Kumaraswamy.