MCDS runs with the main objective of empowering women, promoting better
health conditions and child rights in these communities. MCDS follows an Integrated Community
Development approach.

As part of its initiative on health MCDS approached REACH for monthly awareness programs on TB for their women Self-help-group members

They chalked out a well planned annual schedule for programs to be held every month at different areas where they work.

The following are the details of the program:

Date                    Time                       Area
17/04/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Kakkan Colony
15/05/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Thousand lights
19/06/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Kannagi nagar
17/07/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Srinivasapuram
21/08/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Ice House
18/09/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Anna Colony
16/10/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Ranganathapuram
20/11/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Vadapalani
18/12/12         3 P.M to 4 P.M       Kuilthotam

This is a perfect example of excellent outcomes resulting from NGO’s networking with each other. NGO’s in this instance are supporting each other for the common good of community without any monetary stratagem behind the scenes.

People interested in attending the programs can contact Ms. Nazareth at 9840395943 from MCDS or Ms. Sheela Augustine at 9841591361 from REACH.

We at REACH honor the efforts of MCDS and look forward to working with many more such NGO’s.

REACH Blog Team

From lying in the corner of a room to sitting up and now briskly walking Rathnam has come a long way.

During our initial meeting 75 year old Rathnam was too ill to even figure out who I was. She uttered her problems about her illness with dismay. I then counseled her about the treatment and encouraged her to adhere to treatment to get well soon.

During my second visit, she looked much better and had regained the strength to sit. She complained about how tough the tablets were on her and that she would not take them anymore. I explained that she had to continue with the tablets to fight the TB bacilli lodged in her body. She asked me if that meant that they were worms in her body. To make her comply with treatment I told her it was something similar. Alarmed she said she would continue her tablets.

During my following visits to her house Rathnam often wanted to express her appreciation by giving me some cash, a cool drink or food. However I always managed to resist this in a pleasant manner.

Rathnam was regular with her treatment and was cured. Before my final visit her daughter called me to confirm the time that I would be visiting them.  However on my final visit Rathnam had gone to her son’s house and her granddaughter was at work. Her daughter greeted me with a warm smile but was unhappy about Rathnams absence and her daughters too.

As I left she came up to me hurriedly and handed over a pretty pink carry bag packed with sweets and savories. I refused to receive it, but she pleaded and said that this was specially packed by Rathnam and her daughter for me. Not wanting to upset her I received the bag. The bag read “Thank YOU Best Wishes”.

I left with a pleasant feeling that filled my heart with joy.

Vidhya

REACH Blog Team

ABAN CARES is stopping TB by curing patients and stopping the chain of transmission in the community.

” By helping out in small way, we want to stop TB by making TB care easily accessible to people in rural areas.” says a representative of ABAN CARES.

REACH Blog Team

Dr. Raghu Nanda Kumar, at his Care & Cure clinic.

Dr. Raghu Nanda Kumar stops TB by referring TB patients from his Care and Cure clinic for DOTS treatment. He says patients in the periurban areas are unable to adhere to treatment due to the high cost of TB drugs. Free drugs supplied through the DOTS strategy is a boon for such patients and enables them to complete treatment elaborates Dr. Raghu.

‘I want more patients in periurban areas to use the DOTS program” says Dr. Raghu.

REACH Blog Team

“I want a community free of TB” says Thirumal.

REACH Blog Team

Mr. Arun has been doing this for the past two years and has referred six patients for treatment till date.

“I want more awareness about TB” says Arun.

Mr. Vishwanathan has referred five patients for DOTS treatment and is extremely appreciative about the work REACH is doing through the DOTS centre at Minjuir. “REACH is working silently but effectively. It is also spreading awareness about Tuberculosis in the community and making TB treatment accessible to patients in the Minjuir area” he explains.

“I want the services of NGO’s like REACH to reach out to more people in our communities” says Vishwanathan.

REACH Blog Team

TB control being a people’s movement, their role in creating a TB free world is inimitable. Among the twelve zones of Chennai that REACH works, we come across several kind hearted people who have been stopping TB in their lifetimes. Twelve such persons from each zone who have stopped TB in an outstanding way were honored on the occasion.

The dignitaries who joined REACH for the cause on the occasion included Dr. Arunagiri, State TB Officer, Dr. Guganantham, Health Officer, Chennai Corporation and famous TV anchor and film actor, Mr. Siva Karthikeyan.

Dr. Guganantham, Health Officer, Chennai Corporation appreciating the community volunteers for sparing time on a Sunday morning for the cause of Tuberculosis.

Actor Sivakarthikeyan and the State TB Officer, Dr. Arunagiri felicitating a community volunteer for his outstanding work in Stopping TB.

As a runner up to World TB day, a skit “Adaengappa Tea Kadayil Oru Sambavam” was put up by the REACH staff. The skit is scheduled to be performed as part of the initiative “Talking TB in the PARK”  “Poongavil Pesuvom –TB Pattri” which will take place for 2 weeks starting from 18th March to 31st March in the evenings by a team of 8 members from REACH. The skit focuses on TB facts and prevention.

The REACH staff enacting the play "Adaengappa Tea Kadayil Oru Sambavam”.

The REACH staff, Joseph and Dinakar engaging the audience in a sing a long.

The occasion was also used to release the REACH newsletter, special World TB Day edition and pamphlets on how individuals can stop TB.

State TB Officer, Dr. Arunagiri releasing the World TB Day special edition of the REACH newsletter as actor Sivakarthikeyan receives it.

Actor Sivakarthikeyan admitted on being ignorant about TB till he reached the event. Having realized the magnitude of the TB problem,  he said working towards its control is not something which we should engage in for others but for ourselves.”Coz TB is not someone  else’s problem only, it is our problem too” he concluded.

REACH Blog Team

Ravi Shankar at the cash counter of their hotel, Pandian.

A trio of siblings stops TB by providing free afternoon meals to patients on DOTS treatment. These three brothers run a non vegetarian hotel called Pandian on a street in the busy shopping area of Old Washermanpet, Chennai.

When Dheena, the REACH staff at the DOTS centre in Rainy hospital found a patient unable to adhere to treatment regularly due to the absence of a square meal, she decided to do something.

She approached hotel Pandian, which is closely located to Rainy hospital. Dheena requested Mr. Senthil Kumar, one among the three brothers, if he would oblige to offer the patient free food during the treatment period. Understanding the need he instantly agreed. Ever since, the three brothers have liberally doled out afternoon meals to four patients.

Chella Pandian, Senthil Kumar and Ravi Shankar are happy doing this because they understand that the tablets need to be coupled with good nutrition to cure the disease.

The brothers feel heartened when patients bless them.

“We want an effective vaccine for TB coz prevention is better than cure” say the trio.

REACH Blog Team

Mathavan Suresh with his team at the clinical lab in the Bone & Joint clinic.

Meet Mathavan Suresh, Quality Manager in the clinical lab at the Bone and Joint Clinic at Anna Nagar, Chennai. Suresh joined Bone and Joint Clinic as a lab technician. The sputum microscopy training offered to him through REACH and the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (formerly known as TRC) has helped him a great deal in terms of screening for the TB bacilli he explains.

Not limiting himself to the role of identifying the bacilli through his microscope, Suresh has referred several TB patients for treatment and has also taken up the role of being a DOTS Provider for around 20 patients so far.              He lodges the DOTS boxes at the lab where patients of private practitioners from neighboring areas and the clinic come and swallow their tablets under direct observation in his lab.

Suresh dreams of building a community where ignorance and fear about the disease is erased and knowledge that Tuberculosis is a curable disease prevails.

“I want more awareness about Tuberculosis” says Suresh.

REACH Blog Team

Hello folks! With World TB Day round the corner it’s time to think TB in a big way. World TB Day, falling on March 24th 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 developing countries.

Owing to the enormity of the TB problem, the significance of the day is unquestionable. Every year World TB Day comes with a theme which intends to create awareness about the disease, its extent and impact, and to inspire communities to get involved in the fight against the disease.

The theme for this year is “Stop TB In My Life Time”.

Progress in the global fight against TB cannot wait. The World TB Day Campaign 2012 is intended to allow people all over the world to make an individual call to stop TB in their lifetimes.
In their lifetimes, today’s children should expect to see a world where no one gets sick with TB.
In their lifetimes, women and men should expect to see a world where no one dies from TB.
People of different ages and living in different countries could have these hopes for stopping TB in their lifetimes: zero deaths from TB, faster treatment, a quick cheap, low-tech test, an effective vaccine, a world free of TB.

The disease kills about 800 people in India every day, and we can stop TB using DOTS-a simple strategy to cure patients.

You can contribute to the fight against TB by doing simple tasks like:

• Being more aware about TB and its facts
• Getting a cough for more than 2 weeks tested for TB.
• Referring patients to the appropriate centers for treatment
• Supporting  and encouraging TB patients in their treatment
• Being a DOTS Provider and directly observing the patient swallow his/her drugs.
• Organizing TB awareness programs and participating in TB campaigns
• Generating conversations about TB and the DOTS program with our neighbors.

Let’s do all we can to stop TB in our lifetimes and provide a healthy world for our future generations and bring zero deaths in TB.

We will keep updating this section with blogs on remarkable stories of the many different people who have been stopping TB in their own ways.

So keep reading ….

REACH Blog Team