The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) seeks to rope in the private sector through a public-private interface agencies (PPIA) for effective implementation of a tuberculosis (TB) control project.
MCGM has also secured the support of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who agreed to come on board as the Brand Ambassador, and will soon launch an all-out campaign with Bachchan enumerating the risk of TB and the importance of timely and accurate testing and treatment, which will be played across TV, radio and other mass media outlets.
"MCGM is set to ensure that the city is prepared to address the Mumbai Mission for TB control. It proactively seeks to engage the private sector through public-private interface agencies (PPIA) to fight tuberculosis with the control project," MCGM former executive health officer Dr Arun Bamne told PTI here.
Among many public health threats that our country faces, TB is one of the most daunting. India has the highest burden of TB in world, accounting for an estimated 2.2 million out of 8.6 million TB cases globally, Bamne said.
Last year, MCGM announced the Mumbai Mission for TB Control (MMTC)-a comprehensive strategy that would address the growing challenges of TB and drug-resistant TB in Mumbai.
The MMTC brought on board the Central TB Division, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Centers for Disease Control, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) among others.
Bamne pointed out that the objectives of the MMTC included organisational strengthening of the city TB office, providing greater access to facilitate diagnosis and treatment, and a mission mode approach to slum TB control. The MMTC is an initiative that has grown by leaps and bounds with time.
