Saadhikka Vaa Penne Programme highlights the need for women's participation in elimination TB

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 22 December 2021

Manish Narnaware, Deputy Commissioner (Health), Greater Chennai Corporation, highlighted the importance of women's participation in the disease's elimination at an event to mark the end of Saadhikka Vaa Penne, a two-year effort to engage women as TB (Tuberculosis) leaders in four districts of Tamil Nadu.

“Women’s participation is critical if we are to eliminate TB. We must create more leadership opportunities like this,” he said, according to a press release.

He went on to say that Saadhikka Vaa Penne was a model for not just enhancing TB case detection but also promoting women's health engagement. REACH (Resource Group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health), a non-profit organisation, spearheaded this programme.

Ranjani Ramachandran, a World Health Organization national professional officer, said she was pleased to meet the empowered group of women from the community who were committed to assisting individuals with tuberculosis, and that this effort must be spread and continued across the State and country.

The initiative's outcomes were described in an impact report. According to the report, over 200 women TB leaders were trained and hired to work at over 180 health facilities around the state, and over 1,200 women were given health information via audio-based modules. A total of 14 lakh people were screened for symptoms, and 84,000 people were found to have them. Around 77 percent of those tested positive for tuberculosis, and over 2,900 people were diagnosed with the disease.

Women TB leaders were included in the coffee table book Saadhikka Vaa Penne. The ladies continued to work during the epidemic, according to Ramya Ananthakrishnan, director of REACH, and assisted persons with TB and symptoms of TB at every step of their journey. The announcement stated that the women TB leaders from Vellore, Villupuram, Salem, and Tirunelveli were honoured on their efforts. Lucica Ditiu, executive director of Stop TB Partnership, said it was vital to ensure that communities had enough personnel to provide care, advice, information, and support to those impacted by TB, COVID-19, and other airborne diseases in a video message from Geneva.