Why no celebrity for endorsing TB?
Tuberculosis or TB is rampant in India. It is very much likely that you would have come across someone or the other around you who suffers from TB. Earlier, one would shudder at the mere mention of this disease and the person contracting it would get treated like a pariah, isolated and left to die. But today, thanks to the revolutionary treatment of “DOTS” it is curable.
Yet the news is that DOTS has been scaled up to the limit which it can and today, the TB virus has become stronger, becoming drug resistant, demanding R&D and better solutions to control TB. Though the Govt is working hard on this, the private sector participation is sadly missing. Without effective engagement of the private health sector, the new vision of complete TB control is unlikely to be achieved and there is an urgent need for new public-private partnership models to improve TB care in India.
All the aid and innovation, even private sector participation comes for AIDS, HIV. But no one seems to be engaged in TB. We have seen celebrities come ahead and endorse treatment for AIDS and even eye donation. But how come not a single celebrity endorsement for the most rampant disease, TB? Yes, a few words from big wigs will increase money inflow and help bring about R&D and work out innovative solutions for controlling TB. And did you know that 24th March was World TB Day? That in short shows how low profile this entire battle against TB is when it should have been all guns blazing.