Joint Efforts to Eradicate Tuberculosis (JEET)

Background – TB and its Socio-economical Impact in India

TB has a great impact on the socio-economy of any country, more so in a country like India where there are many hurdles that come in the way of successful treatment.

Socio-economic impact of TB

• Tuberculosis is the No. 1 infectious disease killer in India.
• Every year, according to official statistics, 2.2 million Indians contract TB and 500,000 die of the disease.
• India has more TB patients than any other country in the world.
• The economic cost of the disease is estimated at a staggering USD 2,700 Mio annually.
• There are devastating social costs too. Around 300,000 children drop out of school every year because their parents have TB and the kids have to work to feed their families.
• Moreover, because of the stigma attached to TB, every year more than 100,000 women with the disease are thrown out of their homes or denied access to treatment.

Hurdles in the success of the treatment

Although effective treatment is available,

• Lack of awareness and misconceptions about the disease
• Late / improper diagnosis
• Limited accessibility to diagnostic facilities
• Incorrect treatment by doctors
• Patients’ non-compliance to treatment, and
• Socio-economic factors

are major hurdles in eradicating TB in spite of effective treatment options being available.

The motivation for starting this social initiative

Sandoz has taken the lead in introducing various initiatives for treating TB. The company has developed and is marketing formulations and combi- packs for people of all ages and weight groups. The company is a strong supporter of regular therapy and conducts several awareness programs to communicate the importance of completion of therapy. The company also conducts screening camps and refers people diagnosed as having TB to hospitals/doctors for further investigation.

As a part of our Global Corporate Citizenship Program, Sandoz undertakes social initiatives where we have the ability to make a concrete difference. Our social initiatives therefore are linked to the area of healthcare.

Objectives of the work / program

On identifying the road blocks in treatment, Sandoz realized the need for an integrated approach whereby all those concerned with TB Treatment i.e. Sandoz, as an organization; doctors, patients and society co-operate with each other and jointly fight for TB eradication. With this, Sandoz launched a programme - Joint Efforts to Eradicate Tuberculosis (JEET) on 24th March 2002.

To achieve this objective, Sandoz has focused on the following key aspects:

• Create awareness about TB amongst the general population and practicing doctors;
• Help practicing physicians to treat their patients in an appropriate way;
• Sponsor needy patients for diagnosis and treatment.

  

Action

While the idea of reaching out to the millions suffering from the disease has been our first motive, the strive towards that has been challenging. The initial task of building the doctor community as an interested party to control the disease required much ground work. The efforts at keeping this community interested, makes the job exciting as every doctors’ meet needs to be planned with innovative techniques and tools so that doctors can reach out to the patient community with new trends of thought. As a result the Continuing Medical Programs are created on a level of interest and intrigue thereby giving doctors food for thought and encouraging them to bring forth his or her own ideas.

Increasing awareness among doctors has also made us aware of a highly interested patient community, who are constantly on the look out for updated information. These challenges with the doctor-patient community have thus made us work on the following activities:

Launch of website: www.ourjeet.com

Website totally dedicated to tuberculosis was launched which gives exhaustive information on the disease. The website that is updated every month and is regularly visited by doctors.

E-Bulletin to registered doctors:

E-bulletin “TB Capsule” is sent to 1,000 registered doctors every month. This helps updating the doctors with the latest information on TB.

Online expert advice to doctors

Online advice on various aspects of TB is provided to doctors, post graduate medical students by an expert panel of doctors through the website.

Educational material for doctors

Scientific material was provided to more than 25,000 doctors in the last 3 years.

CME meetings on TB for practicing doctors

1,500 doctors from all over India benefited from these meetings.

Patient Education Material

Patient education material (posters, dosage guidelines and audio-visual) is provided through doctors.

TB Detection camps

51 camps were conducted in Maharshtra, AP, Tamil Nadu, UP, Delhi, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar where around 2500 patients were screened.

Free medication to needy patients

Provided treatment (complete or partial) to more than 15,000 patient’s nationwide wide.

Supply of quality medicines to Government programmes

Supplied TB medicines to different Government organizations.

Commitment to the work programme

Sandoz management is committed to JEET as a part of its global corporate citizenship initiatives.

The company has created 10 distribution hubs across India to provide medication to doctors for their needy patients. The medication is delivered within 72 hours to doctors.

The medical department continuously provides information on development in the treatment of TB to doctors. Queries from doctors are processed within 72 hours.

Impact

JEET has helped create tremendous awareness about TB amongst patients and doctors. This is evident from the increasing use of the website.

Roughly 25,000 doctors have been reached through various efforts. From the 39 Continuing Medical Programs conducted nation wide that has reached more than 1,500 doctors. From 2002 onwards a total of 51 TB detection camps have been conducted while 15,000 patients have benefited from the free medication. Free medication to needy patients has helped minimize dropout patients and improve cure rates. JEET doctors have also initiated patient education programmes.