An organisation of Indian-American physicians is teaming up with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and various non-government organisations (NGOs) to combat tuberculosis (TB).
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) stated in a release that India, which has the highest incidence of TB, is a key player in the global quest to wipe out the disease.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, TB kills 5,000 people every day around the world and 10 million people fell ill with the disease in 2017, including 0.9 million among people living with HIV. TB was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2017 and was responsible for more deaths than HIV.
The AAPI’s stated mission is to strengthen the early detection and treatment of TB, eradicating it by the year 2025 in India. As part of this mission they organised a workshop on ‘Recent updates on Tuberculosis’ in collaboration with the Zonal Task Force RNTCP South Zone 1, USAID and the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust. TB Alert, TB Association of Telangana and Government of Telangana also took part in the event held during the recently concluded 13th annual Global Healthcare Summit in Hyderabad.
The main theme of the workshop was to ensure a ‘TB free India’ with the objective of training Indian-American Physicians on newer strategies for diagnosis and treatment. Around 150 delegates from USA and India attended the workshop.
In his welcome address, Dr Suresh Reddy, president of AAPI, said, “AAPI has an ambitious vision to assist the government to implement evidence-based interventions to reach a TB-Free India, and improve patient-centred TB services.”
AAPI said it would work with USAID and other NGOs together to utilise the 100,000-strong network of physicians of Indian-origin living in the United States to support health programmes in India, engage AAPI’s network of private charitable clinics for TB awareness, detection and treatment and explore opportunities for collaborations between US and Indian medical schools.