Music director and composer A.R. Rahman Saturday launched 'TB Sangharsh', the first Indian tuberculosis patients' network, as part of a nationwide effort to create awareness about the disease here.
Inaugurating the network, Rahman, who is a global ambassador for the International Stop TB Partnership, met patients in west Delhi's Mongolpuri area. He also interacted with them about the treatments available and encouraged them to avail of these."Every individual is important for the country and hence it is better to be disease-free by availing of the treatment," he said.
Organised by TB Action India, a TB advocacy NGO, the programme aimes at creating awareness about the disease among the masses and involving the patients in the campaign.
The newly formed network will closely work with both NGOs and patients and advise them about different kinds of treatment available. It will also fight the stigma attached to the disease.Stop TB Partnership is an initiative of the World Health Organisation.
Around two million people die of TB every year and about 30 percent of the world's TB population lives in India.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service
