Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, today called for making people ‘key partners’ in the campaign for ‘TB Mukt Bharat’ by 2025. “More than any other disease, community engagement is vital to completely eliminate TB”, he stressed. Observing that the impact of tuberculosis is disproportionately felt on the vulnerable sections of society, he called for a massive mobilization of resources and multi-sectoral interventions to eradicate TB.
He said the goal of eliminating TB totally can be achieved only if it was given the shape of a people’s movement and called upon public representatives at all levels to involve people in the ‘Jan Andolan’. He said a multi-pronged effort is needed by adopting a ‘Team India’ spirit to make India TB free by 2025.
Addressing the National Conference on Women Winning against TB, the Vice President said the government’s seriousness on TB elimination is clear given that it was the second TB-related conference this year. He expressed happiness that the conference not only involves parliamentarians, but other public representatives, organisations working for TB elimination, women TB survivors, anganwadi workers, among others.
On this occasion, the Vice President praised the courage of women TB survivors, some of whom narrated their experiences. Naidu stressed that there is a need to adopt a gender sensitive approach to TB, given that the disease can have a disproportionately high impact on women.
He observed that their high susceptibility is due to inadequate priority given to their health, wellness and nutrition. “Facing the misery of abandonment and violence if found to have TB, it is not surprising that there are a large number of unreported and therefore untreated cases of TB amongst women”, he noted.
In this regard, the Vice President also urged elected representatives – MPs, MLAs and Gram Pradhans – to take regular reviews at the district- and sub-district level. He also called upon public representatives to be catalysts in the mass awareness campaign in the fight against TB by playing a proactive role in the public conversations.
The Vice President appreciated the efforts of the Ministries of Women and Child Development, and Health and Family Welfare for coming together and starting a “serious discussion on how to develop new strategies to alleviate the impact of TB on women”.
Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh L. Mandaviya, Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Smriti Irani, Ministers of State, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar and Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Rajesh Bhushan and Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Department, Indevar Pandey were present during the event.
