Question : TUBERCULOSIS AND AIDS

(a) whether the World Health Organisation has warned India about the danger of the diseases like Tuberculosis and AIDS;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the steps being taken/ proposed to be taken in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE (DR. ANBUMANI RAMADOSS)

(a) & (b) No Sir.The World Health Organization had declared TB as a Global Emergency in 1994 in response to the increasing trends of TB across the globe. The WHO during the same time had recommended for adoption of Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy to effectively combat TB. In 2006, the Stop TB Partnership had proposed the new Stop TB Strategy as part of the global plan to control TB and achieve the TB related Millennium Development Goals.

As far as AIDS is concerned, no warning about its danger has been given by World Health Organisation.

(c) The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) widely known as DOTS, which is World Health Organization recommended strategy adopted globally, is being implemented as a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme in the entire country.

Under the programme, diagnosis and treatment facilities including supply of anti TB drugs are provided free of cost to all TB patients. Drugs are provided under direct observation of a DOT provider and the patients are monitored so that they complete their treatment.

For quality diagnosis more than 12250 designated microscopy centres have been established in the country.

Treatment centres (DOT centres) have been established in all government hospitals, Community Health Centres (CHC), Primary Health Centres (PHCs), and Sub-centres. In addition, NGOs, Private Practitioners (PPs), Community Volunteers, Anganwadi workers, Women Self Groups etc. also function as DOT Providers / DOT Centres to take the services as close to the residence of patient, as possible.

The objective of RNTCP is to achieve cure rate of 85% of new sputum positive cases and to detect at least 70% of such cases.The programme is consistently achieving a treatment success rate of over 85% and the new smear positive case detection rate in 2nd quarter of 2007 was 78%. Till date, the RNTCP has placed more than 73 lakh patients on treatment thus averting more than 13 lakh deaths.

National AIDS control programme has been formulated to control the spread of HIV by up-scaling targeted interventions among the high risk groups, behaviour change communication for improved awareness, expanding preventive care, blood safety, support and treatment of HIV infected persons including the treatment of opportunistic infections, provision of anti-retroviral drugs and mainstreaming of HIV intervention strategies.