India to partner private sector for JEET in TB fight

Joint Effort for Elimination of Tuberculosis (JEET) is the biggest public private partnership against TB

India has launched a massive partnership with the private sector for the elimination of TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global schedule.

Joint Effort for Elimination of Tuberculosis (JEET) will be partnered by Centre for Health Research & Innovation (CHRI), a PATH affiliate, FIND and WJCF which is an affiliate of the global fund. The project is a scaling up of three successful pilots in Mumbai, Patna and Mehsana. It is being funded by The Global Fund.

India has the highest burden of TB cases in the world, comprising 27% of the global incidence

JEET is expected to cover over 400 districts in the next three years, and lead to over 1.6 million TB case notifications and ensure a 70% success rate. Through the program, a sustainable and effective private sector engagement strategy has been developed.

India has the highest burden of TB cases in the world, comprising 27% of the global incidence. Of the 2.8 million estimated annual incidence, more than half access the private sector for diagnosis and care. TB kills an estimated 480,000 Indians every year and more than 1,400 every day. India also has more than a million ‘missing’ cases every year that are not notified and most remain either undiagnosed or unaccountably and inadequately diagnosed and treated in the private sector.

That is why India recently made it a punishable offence for doctors and laboratories not to notify TB cases. Though TB – a highly contagious bacterial infection that is associated with lowered immunity levels – was made notifiable in 2012, compliance remains poor.

Prime minister Narendra Modi committed to eliminate TB by 2025 so there is now a sense of urgency in the establishment to achieve that goal. The National Strategic Plan for TB elimination (NSP) advocates the strategy of “going where the patients go”.