Under the TB Mukt Bharat Initiative by 2025, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the “Tribal TB Initiative” on March 26, 2021. The Ministry also published a guidance note on Joint Action Plan for the elimination of Tuberculosis (TB), a Special Edition of Tribal Ministry’s Publication ‘ALEKH’ on TB, and a document on Tribal Tuberculosis (TB) Initiative.
Some Features and Facts about the Tribal population and initiative:
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In India, almost 104 million tribal population lives, across 705 tribes, accounting for 8.6 % of the country’s population.
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The poor living standards like physical remoteness, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene lead to the tribal population getting vulnerable to TB. 177 tribal districts were identified as High-priority districts that are vulnerable.
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The Joint plan will primarily focus on 161 districts initially across 18 states which will include deploying improved vulnerability mapping techniques and organization of sensitization and capacity-building workshops for volunteers.
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There would also be periodic TB active case finding drives and provision of TB Preventive Therapy (IPT) to the identified vulnerable population and develop long-term mechanisms for vulnerability reduction.
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Linkage of the NIKSHAY Portal of MoHFW and Swasthya Portal of the M/o Tribal Affairs will boost data compilation on Tuberculosis and pave way for efficient and convergent actions.
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The union territories of Lakshadweep and the district of Badgam in Jammu & Kashmir have been declared TB Free on World TB Day 2021.
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On State TB Index, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh were the top three best-performing states for tuberculosis control under the category of states with a 50 lakh population.
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Tripura and Nagaland were best-performing in the category of states having less than 50 lakh population.
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Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu were selected as the best performing Union Territories.