Pune: The Program will scale education, screening, treatment and preventive therapy for more than 10,000 school going children across three states (Maharashtra, UP & TamilNadu) after a successful pilot in Himachal Pradesh with a goal to scale the initiative nationwide

The Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute (GKII) has committed $3 million USD towards this three-year initiative.

An estimated 340,000 children under the age of 15 years acquire TB each year in India. While children are estimated to comprise about 13% of the total TB caseload, only 6% are diagnosed and treated. There is evolving scientific understanding that TB transmission occurs most frequently in group settings, including schools. Experts at Hopkins’ GKII believe a collective effort focused on adolescent and pediatric TB would reduce disease incidence and transmission and support India’s national goal for TB elimination.

The TB-Free Schools Initiative builds on the success of an intervention study led by an India-JHU research collaboration that combined TB education, screening, treatment and preventive therapy in mobile service delivery models using cutting edge technologies for the Tibetan population in Himachal Pradesh. This project demonstrated a cost-effective reduction in TB cases in schools and monasteries in Dharamshala by 87%. Capitalizing on this success, and in collaboration with the National TB Elimination Program, Education Department and other CSR partners, this strategy will be scaled up across four sites in three states: Pune and Satara in Maharashtra, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, stated a press release.