Shashank Ranguwar | Updated: Sep 9, 2022 16:44 IST
Honourable President Smt. Droupadi Murmu will launch the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan on 9th September 2022 virtually. This launched event will aim to eradicate tuberculosis(TB) from the country as issued by the Health Ministry. The launched event will aim to bring people together into a Jan Andolan to achieve the ambitious target of eliminating TB from the country by 2025.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi gave the clarion call to end TB in the country at the Delhi End TB Summit in March 2018 and to take the nation ahead of the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) of 2030.
The virtual event will be attended by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare (HFW), Mansukh Mandaviya, Health Minister of State, Bharati Pravin Pawar, and other health administrations, corporates, civil society, NGOs, etc.
As per reports, individuals, NGOs, and corporates can ‘adopt’ patients by committing support for 1-3 years under this scheme. An official website – https://communitysupport.nikshay.in/ has been developed where an anonymous list of the patients suffering from TB can be found. This list is categorised according to the primary health centres, blocks, districts and states. NGOs, Corporates, and individuals can visit the site and register themselves to join the initiative and can select the number of patients based on their capacity.
The main aim of Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan is to reinvigorate the mission of TB elimination from the country by 2025.
The initiative called ‘Ni-kshay’ has started its procedure in some states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the President will officially launch the Ni-kshay Mitra initiative that forms a vital component of the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan. Ni=End, Kshay=TB together form the word Ni-kshay.
Ni-kshay Mitra portal provides a platform for donors to provide various forms of support to those undergoing TB treatment. The three-pronged support includes nutritional, additional diagnostic, and vocational support. The donors, called Ni-kshay Mitras, could be a range of stakeholders from elected representatives, NGOs, etc.
According to the World Health Organization(WHO), an estimated 9.9 million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million people died globally in 2020, despite being a preventable and curable disease. The main cause behind this loss was poor nutrition.TB Virus remains in a latent state in the body of every human being. But it gets activated when the body of the person lacks proper nutrition. In collaboration with ICMR’s National Institute of Nutrition, two options for monthly food baskets have been developed by the health ministry. One basket will contain food items for the adults and the other will contain food products for the children. As per the official report, the cost of each food basket will be near Rs 1000. Here is the list of food that will be provided in the ‘food basket’.
| Food Materials | For Adults | For Children |
|---|---|---|
| Cereals/Millets | 3 kg | 2 kg |
| Pulses | 1.5kg | 1kg |
| Vegetable cooking Oil | 250 gm | 150 gm |
| Milk Powder | 1kg | 750g |
| Milk | 6 litres | 3.5 litres |
| Groundnut | 1kg | 0.7kg |
| Eggs(optional) | 30 nos | 30 nos |
The sponsors will also encourage the patient to consume those products by keeping themselves motivated. 6 months of medication is needed to uproot the TB virus from the body so sponsors have to stick to them to check whether they are taking medicines properly and regularly. Negligence of this can lead to acquiring drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Each food basket will cost near about Rs 1000.
Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan will be launched on 9th September 2022 Virtually.
The ‘food basket’ will contain cereals, millets, pulses, vegetable cooking oil, milk powder, groundnut, milk and eggs(optional).
The main objective of Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan is to eradicate TB from the country by 2025.
This campaign will be launched by the honourable President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu.