This project is based at MAHAN in India. Overview Project title: Finding the missing millions using a village health worker intervention in a rural tribal setting of central India (MTBHT) Programme: Infectious Diseases Based at: MAHAN Trust, Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital in India Start date: 2022 End date: 2026 Principal investigator: Ashish Satav Project team: Ashish Satav, Niteen Wairagkar, Radha Munje, Vibhawari Dani, Shrikant Ambalkar, Milind Sovani, Dhananjay Raje, Yagnesh Thakar, Dipti Jain, Sanjay Zodpey, Ravindra Sarnaik, Helen Stagg, Hilary Pinnock, Genevie Fernandes Background Every year, three of the 10 million people with tuberculosis (TB) globally are not diagnosed, or notified into a national surveillance system. Finding the ‘Missing Millions’ is essential if we are to meet the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy. An estimated 2.6 million people had TB in India in 2020. The distribution of TB is, however, uneven across the country. A systematic review and meta-analysis in India (2015) revealed that the burden of TB among the vulnerable tribal populations with challenging health care access is very high, with a pooled estimation of 7,030 per million. In the tribal areas of Maharashtra state, the prevalence of pulmonary TB is thought to be 2,610 per million tribal population per year. The reasons for the very high prevalence of TB in tribal areas are manifold and linked to living conditions; additional barriers for early diagnosis, notification and treatment; stigma and misinformation; poor public and other healthcare services; accessibility; and poverty. Aim and Impact This study aims to use human-centered design to create a village health worker-delivered intervention to close the diagnostic and notification gap in a rural tribal setting in India (Melghat). Related Links Learn about the complementary study, AMASSMENT based in Malaysia. This article was published on 2024-09-24
