Join hands for a TB-Free India, launches ‘The Women Empowerment’ campaign
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) recently announced the launch of a new partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to end tuberculosis (TB) in India. In addition, AAPI also mentioned about various other initiatives taken up for bettering healthcare in India.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, signed recently in New Delhi, AAPI and USAID will work together to utilise the 100,000-strong network of physicians of Indian-origin living in the US to support health programmes in India, engage AAPI’s network of private charitable clinics for TB awareness, detection and treatment, and explore opportunities for collaborations between the US and Indian medical schools to exchange cutting-edge healthcare solutions.
Present at the occasion were, Dr Naresh Parikh, President, AAPI 2018-19; Dr Xerses Sidhwa, Director of Health, USAID/India; Dr Raj Bhayani, Co-Chair, AAPI GHS; Anwar Feroz Siddiqi Chief Strategy Adviser, AAPI; Jennifer Larson, Acting Council General, US Consulate Mumbai; Dr Narendra Saini, Former Hon Secretary General, Indian Medical Association; Raj K Purohit, MLA of BJP, Chief Whip; Harish Shah, Joint Secretary, Yusuf Meherally Foundation; Dr Purvish Parikh, Chair of Oncology Session.
The experts elaborated that India is home to more than one-fourth of the global TB burden. India has more TB and multi-drug-resistant TB cases than any country in the world. A further one million Indian citizens, including 170,000 children, are estimated to be undiagnosed and untreated. At the Delhi End-TB Summit, held recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasised the need for a multi-sectoral approach including the private sector and announced a national plan to eliminate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the World Health Organisation’s stated global 2030 goal.
AAPI in association with USAID has initiated TB programmes in four major cities including Mumbai, Rajkot, Chennai and Indore. The programme is in the initial stage wherein with the support of the volunteers and local hospitals, they aim to go door to door and identify the undiagnosed cases of TB. AAPI is aiming to work on the initial stage up till December, when they will be releasing the an outcomes report during the Global Healthcare Summit in Mumbai.
Speaking about the USAID-AAPI collaboration, Dr Parikh said,“Elimination of TB has been a matter of national concern for many years now. Through our partnership with USAID, we aim to bring American technical expertise to help strengthen India’s fight against TB. Also, we intend to bring in leading subject matter experts, introduce global best practices and cutting-edge business solutions that will complement and grow existing USAID programmes in India.”
Sidhwa added, “We have been supporting the TB programme of the Government of India for two decades now. Along with extending technical expertise, USAID has invested $140 million to strengthen the capacity of national, state, and district-level TB programmes across India. With our collaboration with AAPI, we aim to strengthen the early detection and treatment of TB, with a focus on drug-resistant strains; continue our assistance to the government to plan and implement evidence-based interventions to reach a TB-Free India, and improve patient-centered TB services.”
Drawing attention towards the importance of educating and empowering women to take ownership of the health and hygiene of themselves and their families AAPI also launched ‘The Women Empowerment’ campaign that will focus on raising healthcare awareness among women in the country.
The experts informed that AAPI aims to provide training to the healthcare trainers and has also suggested guidelines for traumatic care to the health ministry. The draft for these guidelines have been submitted and the pilot is already being implemented. To address a huge gap of traumatic care in the country, they are identifying the challenges such as the shortage of task force and trying to address to the challenges.
Dr Bhayani emphasised, “Improving healthcare services in India through its various initiatives, AAPI envisions to share the best from leading experts from around the world to collaborate on clinical challenges, research and development, philanthropy, policy and standards formulation, and clinical tracks that are of vital to healthcare in India.”
“Taking up the challenge and assisting with the launch and implementation of Ayushman Bharat programme, AAPI is making this the focus of its signature CEO forum”, said Siddiqi.
Mansha Gagneja-Mumbai
mansha.gagneja@expressindia.com