DR-TB Coordinator

Communication aims to favourably change knowledge, attitudes and practices among various groups of people. 

Types of communication in healthcare are:

In ACSM, "A" stands for Advocacy. "Advocacy" is an activity by an individual or a group that aims to influence the decisions within political, economic and social institutions. 

Advocacy focuses on influencing policy-makers, funders and international decision-making bodies through a variety of channels:

Advocacy refers to activities that seek to influence the influencers and decision-makers, so as to make TB more central as a public health agenda and enlist their (influencers’) support to create an enabling environment in support of the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to eliminate TB. Advocacy fosters political will, increases financial and other resources on a sustainable basis, and holds authorities accountable to ensure that pledges are fulfilled and results achieved.

Patient-provider meetings are important to ensure patient support and improve case holding/ treatment adherence.

Objective: To orient the patients on the course of the treatment, the importance of adherence and the risk for close contact. It also provides a platform to discuss the difficulty in following treatment courses by the patients and the need for further counselling if required.

The district TB forum is a community-engagement modality that aims to empower and engage the TB-affected community. Constituted by TB patients (cured or on treatment), community leaders, government officials, experts and NGOs; it gives a voice to the affected community and advocates with the programme managers for the resolution of challenges faced by TB patients in accessing TB services.

District TB forum is composed of various stakeholders as shown in the table below and its meeting is to be convened at least every 6 months at the district level.

Under the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules 1945, drugs specified under Schedule H are required to be sold by retail on the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) only.  At present, Schedule H contains 510 drugs.  

Recently, a new Schedule H1 has been introduced through gazette notification GSR 588 (E) dated 30-08-2013, which contains certain third and fourth-generation antibiotics, certain habit-forming drugs and anti-TB drugs.

These drugs are required to be sold in the country under the following conditions: 

As a public health responsibility to prevent transmission of TB infection and development of drug resistance it is essential to engage both the public and private sectors for effective TB prevention and control. A total of seven standards related to Public Health Actions (PHA) (Standard 12 to Standard 18) have been mentioned in the Standards for TB Care in India (STCI)-2014.  All patients notified from the private sector also need to be offered all public health actions. 

Partnership options refer to the different modalities utilised by stakeholders of the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to engage with a private-sector partner to improve the availability and quality of service delivery for TB patients.

The table below shows the partnership options that are currently available. The programme manager, based on the findings of the needs assessment, can identify the relevant partnership options that they can implement in their region.

Table: Available Partnership Options and their Scope of Services

Good storage conditions and safe custody of drugs is important to ensure quality of drugs.

To preserve the quality of medicines, good storage practices should be in place at all levels, which requires that staff are appropriately trained and storage conditions adequate.

General Guidelines on Storage of Drugs

Mechanisms to improve TB stock management in central or peripheral drug stores are: