Stating that tuberculosis was not just a medical problem but also a social issue, as those suffering from the disease have to face social stigma, Maharashtra Minister Rajkumar Badole today called for raising awareness on the issue.
The Central TB Division (CTD) of the Union Health Ministry and North Maharashtra University (NMU) today held a conclave here to involve more students to actively pursue scientific research in the quest for innovative and more effective tuberculosis interventions.
The International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), along with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were also a part of the conclave.
Badole, the state Social Justice minister, who was a part of the conclave, said that social science research is required to be able to understand the challenges and find solutions.
"TB is not just a medical problem, but it has several social ramifications. Families fall apart due to this disease. Several children are forced into labour and TB patients, especially women and girls, face stigma. Awareness is absolutely crucial," he said.
Professor Sudhir Meshram, Vice Chancellor of NMU, said, "This partnership is an excellent opportunity for us to strengthen our efforts in TB research, across various study fields such as social sciences, economics, humanities and engineering."
He also said that the NMU has already launched a programme in five adopted villages for TB awareness and screening in partnership with CTD, The Union and USAID.
According to a recently released WHO report, 2 Indians die of TB every minute.
"TB now ranks alongside HIV as the leading infectious killer. India recorded the largest number of drug-resistant TB cases in the world this year," the report states.
"TB kills two Indians every five minutes. India accounts for almost one quarter of the global TB burden, with 2.3 million new cases annually and more than 1 million multidrug-resistant TB cases go undetected or unreported globally," it states and adds that India has 71000 notified MDR-TB (multi drug resistant-TB) cases.
