Operation ASHA Key Issues and
Operational Areas, Major Activiities & Achivements
Operational Districts: Mewat ,Gwalior,Amritsar , Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala , Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar , Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur,Alwar, Jaipur ,Budaun, Gorakhpur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Moradabad, Rampur,Hardwar
Operational States: HARYANA, MADHYA PRADESH, PUNJAB, RAJASTHAN, UTTAR PRADESH, UTTARAKHAND
AchieveMents: Operation ASHA serves a population of 1.5 million slum-dwellers in five states and is expanding rapidly. It has devised a new patient-friendly system for TB treatment. The treatment is taken to the doorsteps of the disadvantaged. Treatment centers are established within the community, e.g. in small shops, huts and temples. Centers are located a mile from each other and operated by community providers for 12-16 hours a day. Thus, patients can procure the medicine conveniently, without wasting time, spending money on transport or losing wages.
Easy accessibility is supplemented with a robust educational campaign, which is carried out by highly trained counselors, who are also responsible for tracking and eliminating default. All employees are recruited from within the community. So our message is accepted readily. Counselors screen every person and ensure that every suspect undergoes sputum test. Counselors are paid performance linked incentive salaries, which spurs them to do well.
Operation ASHA works very closely with Revised National TB Control Programme and uses drugs, hospitals and diagnostic facilities provided by it. Government officials are encouraged to visit the centers and provide feedback, which helps maintain quality. RNTCP also provides a grant under Slum Scheme provided for in NGO Guidelines so each center becomes self-sustaining within two years.
Our model has achieved excellent results. In South Delhi where Operation ASHA is a major force, detection rate has increased by 78%. Default is down to nearly 3%, many times less than usual. Thus, Operation ASHA has turned the tap off, preventing MDR. Ken Castro, Assistant Surgeon General and Director, TB Elimination, CDC, USA found our work to be ââ¬Åtruly remarkableââ¬Â.
High quality does not mean high costs. Operation ASHA practices stringent cost control. The cost of treating a patient for the entire therapy of average seven months is only $15 = $2 a month approximately. The ââ¬Åsocial return on investmentââ¬Â is 22500%. Our investment is matched 25 times by our partners.
Operation ASHA has tied up with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, which will conduct a randomized control trial, which are considered gold-standard in research. It will assess the impact of Operation ASHA in slum communities.
Research department of Microsoft has taken up development of bio-metric devices for Operation ASHA. With these devices, it will be able to track each dose taken by each patient and further improve our results.
Operation ASHAââ¬â¢s model has been appreciated world-wide. Prajnopaya Foundation, which is based in Boston, signed an agreement in June 2009 whereby Prajnopaya is raising funds for TB control in India and Operation ASHA has the responsibility of executing the program. Prajnopaya supports the vision of its chief patron, Nobel Laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Having virtually eliminated default, established a cost-effective and replicable model, Operation ASHA is expanding rapidly. It plans to establish 1000 DOTS centers by 2012, which will serve a population of 70 million. It is looking for funding and partnerships to achieve this goal.
