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Country/regional profile
India has a population of approximately 1.1 billion people and is one of the world's fastest growing economies, yet over a quarter of people in India still live on less than $1 a day.
Poverty and TB are inextricably linked and India has the highest incidence of TB in the world. Approximately 1.9 million new cases emerge each year and over 1,000 Indians die of TB every single day.
This TB project is located in the Madrasi Colony, one of the poorest slum settlements in the city of Dehradun at the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand State, NE India. The project's efforts are focused on disadvantaged individuals and communities within these slums, including street children, orphans and people affected by HIV/AIDS and TB.
Image: David Brunetti
6 year old Chitra holding the free
anti- TB drugs from the AKS Hope
project that saved her life
Our work with A.K.S. HOPE Project
Target TB has recently partnered with AKS Hope, a small community based organisation working to reduce the burden of TB in the Madrasi slums. AKS is currently the only organisation carrying out TB awareness raising in the area. Target TB is working together with AKS to develop its TB control activities in the district and provide capacity building support to help the organisation grow.
Project Aims
The aim of this project is to provide the people of Dehradun access to the information, support, facilities and treatment necessary to reduce the number of deaths from TB in the district.
Trained volunteers provide information about TB at health camps
within slum settlements
Project Activities
- Awareness raising camps are held in urban slum areas of Dehradun to inform people about the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of TB
- Volunteers are trained to identify people with, or at risk of, TB and refer people with symptoms for testing at government recognised TB diagnostic centres
- Patients are supported throughout their treatment and local volunteers are trained as DOTS providers, increasing treatment completion and cure rates
- Advice, information and support are also provided to TB patients with HIV or drug-resistant TB
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