Johnson & Johnson India has announced the launch of a youth-focused, digital initiative as part of its corporate pledge against tuberculosis.
The ‘Be The Change For TB’ initiative is a joint initiative with the Union Ministry of Health’s Central TB Division and the United States Agency for International Development, supporting India’s goal to end tuberculosis. Actor Vaani Kapoor has been roped as the face of the initiative.
The aim is to create ‘youth changemakers’ to act as catalysts of change and help eliminate tuberculosis as an estimated 30% of India’s total cases are in the 18-30 age group. It aims to increase awareness about the disease, build youth participation and engagement, and improve health-seeking behaviour to support the government’s vision of a tuberculosis-free India.
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The initiative addresses the Indian youth, who are best placed to bring behavioural change among the public — a step that can significantly boost the fight against tuberculosis. The initiative will bust the common misconceptions around the disease and communicate the right messages around its diagnosis and treatment. The communication and social mobilisation aspects would cover online and on-ground interventions such as working with state and district health departments, local communities, and National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.
This initiative, supporting global efforts to find the missing millions living with undiagnosed tuberculosis, are part of Johnson & Johnson’s 10-year initiative to drive progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending this preventable and treatable disease by 2030.
However, India is still far off from achieving its target, having a prevalence rate of 312 per 100,000 people, higher than its elimination programme milestone target of 170 by 2020.
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According to India’s first tuberculosis survey in nearly 60 years, released on Wednesday by the Union Health Ministry, tuberculosis prevalence reduced from an estimated 320 in 2015 to 312 during 2019-2021.
The ministry’s 2017 plan for tuberculosis elimination had set prevalence targets from 320 per 100,000 in 2015 to 170 by 2020, 90 by 2023, and 65 by 2025. The plan does not envisage zero cases but aims to achieve five-fold reductions in incidence and prevalence and a ten-fold reduction in mortality.
