Introduction
Blossom has been implementing the Campaign for Education, Prevention & Treatment For TB (CEPT) Project in 11 unions of Virudhunagar district. Blossom has been involved in TB prevention and treatment activities for the last decade by linking individuals with government hospitals and promoting DOTS and thereby facilitating a cure for 1825 persons
Aim
To create TB awareness, identify TB infection, facilitate continuous treatment and cure, and stop spread of TB.
Objectives
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To provide better TB treatment monitoring to at least 1,500 TB patients, including those co-infected with HIV, every year |
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Meet and exceed WHO target of 85% treatment completion and cure rates for TB patients registered with the project by the end of year |
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To improve levels of awareness and knowledge about TB amongst 1,500 TB patients, 1,100 local volunteers, 2,500 other stakeholders, and at least 10% of the wider population of 1.9 million people in Virudhunagar district through extensive health education activities every year |
Edu-clowns Campaigns in the target villages (LEFT) & Mobile Exhibition/Booth Display (RIGHT).
22 Edu-Clowns Campaigns were enacted in different areas. Around 37,322 people saw the performances and were able to gain awareness about TB. The Edu-Clowns are known to be an effective method of reaching out to the public, who gave their feedback. The integration of Edu-clowns theatre performance, Mobile Booth and Exhibition enhanced the effectiveness of the overall Campaign. The campaigns led to an increase in inquiries, which was followed up by the Community Organizers, and the Coordinator.
Live Telecast Cable TV programme
Another of Blossom’s unique projects was to bring TB awareness to people personally at their doorsteps. This was achieved through a live telecast cable TV announcement where more than 120,000 people were reached. After the programme, our community organizers have become well known to the people in their field, which helped them to move easily throughout the community. People mingle and are easily able to share their health problems with the community organizers..
Self Care Training to TB/DOTS Patients / FATB
During one year period, Self Care Training meetings were conducted for the TB/ DOTS patients and their families. 71 trainings traning sessions were conducted and 1229 members were trained. These were conducted jointly with the local VHN’s, AWW’s, STS’s (in some cases the Medical officers were also involved) and were organized by our Coordinator and the concerned Community organizers. The meetings are effective: the spread of TB is mostly curbed among the family members due to timely and personal clarification on the concept; the participants are informed on real facts and how to control the spread to others; and the preparation of low cost nutrition food..
Key lessons learnt
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Many people still do not know about TB/DOTS, emphasizing the need for education and awareness on the subject.
- More intensive efforts such as sensitization programmes, awareness, and knowledge gaining activities must to be conducted among all the health care service providers to improve their services.
- There are still myths and misconceptions about TB /DOTS among the public, which hinders the success of the project in some areas.
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The community organizers find it difficult to collect evidence for new cases, as there are no Xerox machines available in their local area. Many patients misplace or lose their medical reports, adding to the challenge of recording and documenting a new case.
- Unpaid local volunteer services are very useful to our project by acting as liaisons between rural communities and available services.
- When community organizers conduct meetings, the unpaid volunteers are involved, building a good rapport with TB patients and their families. Patients are then able to share their health and family problems with our team. They treat us as one of their family members, strengthening our relationship with the Government hospital staff. Our community organizers are able to retrieve defaulted cases, which is very helpful for the Government RNTCP team.
Positive aspects
- A proper and definite change is seen among the TB patients and DOTS providers.
- Our staff team, including paid and unpaid volunteers, has a thorough knowledge about TB.
- Our community organizers participate in volunteer health nurses meeting in all blocks, informing the population of our project objectives, activities and support services.
- To get the attention of elite persons, we concentrate on wide and continuous publicity in daily newspapers and magazines.
- We created a platform for the Cured and Non-cured TB patients to express and vent their thoughts, ideas, and opinions in a common forum formed at the block level.
Outcomes since 2009
- Blossom has facilitated a cure for 2049 persons in the last 2 years alone.
- 3665 youth attended sensitization meetings
- 3866 people attended TB Self Help Groups
- 2464 Village Health Nurses attended sensitization meetings
- 2703 Panchayat Workers attended sensitization meetings
- 3359 Anganwadi Workers attended sensitization meetings
| Name of Block |
Cumulative number of TB cured/completed treatment to date |
| Virudhunagar |
153 |
| Sattur |
203 |
| Sivakasi |
202 |
| Srivilliputtur |
260 |
| Rajapalayam |
184 |
| Watrap |
230 |
| Kariyapatti |
179 |
| Aruppukottai |
160 |
| Thiruchuli |
131 |
| Narikudi |
146 |
| Vembakottai |
201 |
| TOTAL |
2049 |
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