New Hotlines for People with TB

The World Care Council is rolling out telephone Hotline support services in India and the DR Congo for TB Patients. A brief outline follows below.

Tuberculosis may be curable, but the road to cure is usually long and difficult. For many, it can mean months of suffering and loneliness in the shadows of society as stigma and mis-information add to the burden of the disease. In India, too many patients don't adhere or abandon treatment, and hence put themselves, their families and neighbors at greater risk of this deadly, and highly contagious disease. The National TB Program (RNTCP)in India is working hard to address the clinical aspects of tuberculosis, but are overstretched and not able to provide the necessary support to patients which would better assure adherence. In the DR Congo, the NTP is also struggling, so the World Care Council there is moving to fill the gaps with an innovative system of solidarity.

The Indian branch of the World Care Council, an NGO of dynamic people who have had TB and/or are living with HIV, is now beginning a new service to provide peer support to those on treatment through a telephone hotline. Patients in need of advice or solidarity can simply send an SMS in English or Hindi, and will be called back by someone who knows, from firsthand experience, the difficulties brought on by the disease, and can perhaps help to mitigate these challenges.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Care Council branch based in Kinshasa is starting the same service, offering support in French and Lingala, also run by ex-patients. In both countries, other local languages will soon be added, providing a comprehensive service covering all of these two high burden countries.

Evidence has clearly shown that having someone 'accompany' a patient can help them keep to the long and often difficult course to cure. Although this service does not offer medical advice, it can provide information and encouragement, and perhaps initiate social support through referrals to local agencies and civil society organizations.

Patients have specific rights and responsibilities, as outlined in the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (available in english on the Indian Government's RNTCP site at www.tbcindia.org/documents.asp and in French at www.who.int/tb/people_and_communities/fr/). Included are the rights to quality care with dignity, and to support from diagnosis through to cure, which facilitates the responsibility to adhere to the prescribed course of treatment. In collaboration with a number of civil society organizations, enterprises, and the National TB Programs, the World Care Council in India and the DR Congo are striving to turn these rights and responsibilities into practice 'on the ground' in communities across the two countries. As these models develop in the coming months, Hotlines in other countries will also established by members of the World Care Council network of activists-patients.

As there are more than 400,000 deaths in India and 60,000 in the DR Congo each year from TB, and tuberculosis is the leading cause of death of PLHIV, we must all share the responsibility of increasing the efforts to confront this scourge of our communities. The Hotline for TB Patients is a new innovative tool which transforms solidarity into scale-up, from the bottom-up.

SMS HOTLINE India: 9971043320
SMS HOTLINE DR Congo: 0810680742

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