| Tuberculosis or TB
is an infectious disease, which takes the lives of about 1.6 million people each year. The magnitude of the
disease is so severe that two people die of TB every three minutes in
India
.
Keeping in mind the
tremendous burden of suffering caused by TB, The National Tuberculosis Programme was
established in 1962 to create an infrastructure for the control of the
disease throughout
India
.
On the basis of a review, the government adopted the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme.
This program recommended the Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course or DOTS strategy, as a pilot project in 1993. The
programme was later launched as a national programme in 1997.
The programme
covered 30 per cent of the country’s population by the end of 2000, and by
March 2006 the entire country was covered under DOTS.
At the international
level, WHO's 'Stop TB Strategy' aims at dramatically reducing the global
burden of TB by 2015. In addition to DOTS, every child is compulsorily
given BCG vaccine for protection against TB. The vaccine is given anytime
from birth to 15 days of child's life.
India
has a long and illustrious tradition of research in Tuberculosis. Studies
from the Tuberculosis
Research Centre in Chennai and the National Tuberculosis Institute in Bangalore have
provided valuable knowledge on enhanced medical treatment for TB patients
in the past and continue to do so even today.
For more details click on the
links cited below:
|
