TB survivors to launch city's 1st women-led support group

Mumbai: By the year-end, tuberculosis survivors are set to launch the city's first women-led community-based organisation (CBO) for TB patients. The group aims to combat stigma through outreach programmes, address gaps in public health services with patient and family counselling, and ensure access to medication when govt supplies fall short.Despite decades of high tuberculosis cases, the city continues to lack adequate counselling support for patients. The local chapter of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders), based in Govandi, provided crucial medication and mental health care to TB patients for years. But its withdrawal from the country by December will leave a void in care. The women-led CBO, with nine TB survivors on board and guided by MSF in its early stages, aims to fill that gap.In 2020, as the world battled the Covid-19 pandemic, Govandi resident Divya Sharma was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Lockdowns delayed her access to treatment at Shatabdi Hospital, but by November, she began her nearly two-year medication course, supported by MSF staff through her recovery.Sharma was among the two survivors from the city, part of the upcoming CBO, who attended the National Conference of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (NATCON) in Jaipur to prepare for the organisation's operations. The conference marked the presence of leading chest physicians, TB specialists, other advocacy groups, and survivors from across the country. It covered topics like new diagnostic tools, improved medication, paediatric TB, vaccination, and the personal experiences of survivors."After recovery, I'm still dealing with side effects from medication. I want to support other TB patients the way MSF supported me," Sharma said. Meera Yadav, a prominent voice in the city's anti-TB advocacy and a survivor herself, is spearheading the CBO initiative. Ganesh Acharya, a city-based TB-HIV survivor and activist, said, "CBOs are for the community and by the community. Such initiatives existed among HIV patients but not TB patients. This would likely be first in the country for TB."