IMA launches mass sensitisation programme on TB

Indian Medical Association (IMA) has launched a mass sensitisation programme to educate people including nurses, about tuberculosis
Under the programme, launched ahead of World TB Day on March 24 in collaboration with Central TB Drug Division and Union Health Ministry, IMA today interacted with principals of various nursing schools from Delhi and NCR.
They were informed about various facts of tuberculosis prevention. They were also educated about "respiratory and cough hygiene and etiquettes".
"Nurses are backbone of the society and they are part of an important chain in the process of providing ethical TB Care to the patients. TB is a notifiable disease and the same should be known not only to the doctors but also to the nurses, IMA Secretary General K K Aggarwal said.

He stressed that nurses can provide the best counselling.
"Most of the TB patients feel that it is a stigma. Nurses can play a big role in removing this feeling from the minds of people. Incomplete treatment of TB can be risky, therefore, nurses can play a big role in motivating people to not to stop the treatment in between," he said.

Aggarwal further said all celebrities and important people in the society should come forward and learn to disclose their status of TB, so that there is no more stigma attached to TB care.
Tomorrow, as part of the programme, medical students and principal of several schools and general practitioners would be educated about the various aspects of the disease.

"There is a need for wider dissemination of 'standards for TB care' among the public to hasten the decline of TB incidences and help India reach the WHO target of elimination of tuberculosis (TB) by 2050.
"There is a need to address social determinants of TB such as under-nutrition, overcrowding and poor ventilation in slums and clinical risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, smoking etc," Aggarwal said.