World TB Day 2008 Toolkit
World TB Day - March 24th 2008
World TB Day, falling on 24 March each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in the third world. 24 March commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.
Message from Stop TB Partnership
A campaign aimed at challenging people all over the world to do their part to fight tuberculosis (TB) will be launched early in 2008 in the run-up to World TB Day. Plans for the campaign were announced by Stop TB Ambassador Anna Cataldi at the opening ceremony of the World Conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease at the Cape Town International Convention Center today. World TB Day is held each year on 24 March.
"The slogan, I am stopping TB , says that everyone can take an active role in helping all people in need gain access to accurate TB diagnosis and effective treatment," Ms Cataldi said.
Patients can stop TB by becoming active participants in their own cure and taking all their anti-TB drugs as prescribed.
Health workers can stop TB by staying alert to the symptoms of the disease and providing prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Scientists can stop TB by engaging in needed research to develop new diagnostics, new drugs and new vaccines.
Teachers can stop TB by educating their students about this age-old scourge.
Communities can stop TB by sharing information to help prevent the disease and get treatment to those who need it.
"The challenge we are putting to people across the world is, 'What are you doing to stop TB? Please join us in the fight," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.
There are nearly nine million new cases of TB worldwide and the disease still kills more than a million-and-a-half people every year, even though it can be cured with a six-month course of antibiotics that costs only US$ 20.
The Stop TB Partnership, which is hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, is a network of more then 500 international organizations, countries, donors from the public and private sectors, and nongovernmental and governmental organizations that are working together to eliminate TB. The Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015) sets forth a roadmap for treating 50 million people for TB and enrolling 3 million patients who have both TB and HIV on antiretroviral therapy over the next 10 years, saving about 14 million lives. It aims to halve TB prevalence and deaths compared with 1990 levels by 2015.
A sure-footed campaign against tuberculosis in Tamil Nadu
By Ramya Kannan, The Hindu, Dec 21, 2007
CHENNAI: Ever since popular South Indian film mega star, Rajinikanth lent himself to the mid-80s ad campaign to eradicate polio to an astounding response, it has been clear in Tamil Nadu that star power can truly swing a cause.
Nearly two decades later when a younger star, Suriya, talks about joining the battle against Tuberculosis with Reach, he is still referring to Rajnikanth's sleight of hand that brought mothers, with children in tow, to pulse polio booths. "I still remember his work for pulse polio. It still evokes total recall."
For a star who is seen as frequently on television as he is on screen, thanks to the brand endorsements, Suriya is sure he can make a difference. "The brands I work for think I can make an impact in the market. I think I can make the same impact with a social cause."
But then, why TB? Suriya has a number of reasons. "Right from childhood, I've seen relatives being affected by it. My driver, who was very close to me, had TB. I still remember the tears in his eyes when my family did not want him to be around." The driver, incidentally, became part of the first campaign film for Reach, a Chennai-based non-governmental organisation creating awareness of TB and its treatment.
"For long I believed that TB would affect a certain group of people—rickshaw pullers, autorickshaw drivers and children. Then, a senior technician in a film I was working in went through this and was badly affected." Further, a friend's mother, young and high up on the corporate ladder, too, succumbed to TB. "That's when it struck me that even people in `high society' can get TB, despite having different lifestyles."
For Suriya, meeting with Nalini Krishnan, director-projects, Reach, was the next stage. Bursting to do something, he found the right platform in Reach.
The first commercial, in which the driver's story was narrated, proved a success. "I got great feedback. It was supposed to be shown in Tamil Nadu only but they liked the film so much that they dubbed it into other languages, through the Central Government." What was even better was when kids, given information about TB, would say, "Suriya was saying this. I saw it on TV."
Dr. Krishnan agrees: "Television is great. We get a lot of calls immediately after such an ad is out."
The experience of its first ad has taught Reach that. While it also uses other means of communication, including pamphlets, there is no denying the huge impact television has. The stigma is still considerable, Dr. Krishnan adds. In fact, while shooting the latest shot, actors opted out when they heard it was an ad for TB.
Suriya, who conceptualized the ad, attests to this. "We wanted people from all walks of life to appear on the ad and had a tough time getting actors who were willing to appear in a TB ad. If this is the case in the cities, imagine how it might be in the villages."
The 30-second ad, inspired by Michael Jackson's "Black or White," is out on Vijay TV, which is allotting 8-10 slots every week. Some of them are on prime time, while the others play on the afternoon band. This is part of the corporate social responsibility activities of the channel, says R. Balachandran, Vijay TV's vice president (planning and marketing). Television will provide a wide reach, he believes.
This quite serves Suriya's purpose of reaching out to all: "Everybody counts. Everyone is involved. And everyone has to be aware."
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/21/stories/2007122154030500.htm
A new useful publication from World Health Organisation
Advocacy, communication and social mobilization for TB control A guide to developing knowledge, attitude and practice surveys
Link: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596176_eng.pdfSTOP TB
Documents to help plan your WTBD activities
MDR TB Guidelines
http://www.stoptb.org/resource_center/assets/documents/tb_guidelines.pdf
Global map and information on XDR-TB
http://www.who.int/entity/tb/xdr/xdrmap_feb_en.pdf
WHO factsheet no. 104 - Tuberculosis
http://www.who.int/entity/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/index.html http://www.who.int/entity/tb/publications/2006/tb_factsheet_2006_1_en.pdf
Frequently asked questions - XDR-TB
http://www.who.int/tb/xdr/faqs/en/index.html http://www.who.int/entity/tb/xdr/faq_en.pdf
Advocacy, communication and social mobilization to fight TB
http://www.stoptb.org/resource_center/assets/documents/TB-ADVOCACY.pdf
Stop TB eForum Report published by Health and Development Networks
http://www.stoptb.org/resource_center/assets/documents/TB_Corr.pdf
Patients charter for tuberculosis care
http://www.stoptb.org/resource_center/assets/documents/istc_charter.pdf
Management of collaborative TB/HIV activities
http://www.who.int/tb/publications/who_htm_tb_2005_359/en/index.html
Strategic Vision document of Revised National TB Control Programme-India
http://www.tbcindia.org/pdfs/Strategic%20Vision%20for%20the%20country%202005-2015%20%20Final.pdf
Previous World TB Days
http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/
WTBD 2006 Toolkit
http://healthinitiative.org/html/tb/2k6/index.htm
World TB Day 2008 web site
http://stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/
Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme
http://www.tbcindia.org/
Centers for Disease Control & PreventionNational Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention,
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/WorldTBDay/2006/introduction.htm
Stop TB partnership
http://www.stoptb.org/
World Health Organisation, Tuberculosis Home Page
http://www.who.int/tb/en/
AIDS Care Watch Campaign
http://www.aidscarewatch.org/