28 May Operation ASHA’s response to COVID-19
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal” thickness=”2″ up=”20″ down=”20″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The emergence of a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 caused a major global health crisis and many countries began to implement lockdown measures. The Indian government declared national lockdown on 24th March 2020, which is considered as one of the strictest according to the Oxford University’s Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). With TB patients being confined at home and Community Health Workers (CHWs) not being able to help them take their medication, the risk of treatment disruption was very high.
Operation ASHA is a community-based model that has delivered TB treatment to the doorsteps of 9.7 million people living in over 5,000 slums, rural areas and tribal villages often in remote locations. Through its own staff, it operates in 6 states in India and 7 provinces in Cambodia. Its model has also been replicated by third-parties in 7 other countries.
TB treatment centers are established within existing community locals, such as shops, temples, or health clinics. Each center serves 5,000-25,000 people in a 1.5 kms radius. The model is designed to help patients access TB treatment near their homes which reduces investment of time and money in transport and helps ensure treatment adherence.
Ensuring that patients stick to TB treatment is important because of the threat of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). To combat the rising MDR-TB epidemic, OpASHA launched eCompliance, a biometric initiative in collaboration with Microsoft Research, which uses fingerprint scanners to track patient visits.
As of March 2019, through its eCompliance technology suite, Operation ASHA has treated over 100,000 TB patients, achieving treatment success rate (TSR) of over 85% and reducing loss to follow-up (LTFU) to less than 7%. Since its inception in 2006, Operation ASHA has sensitised and screened 7.7 million families for TB and vigorously undertaken active case finding (ACF) among target communities.
After the declaration of national lockdown, CHWs were planning to maintain contact with their patients via regular phone calls, but it rapidly became impossible as patients could not afford to recharge their phone credit. Due to the lockdown, many factories have slowed down or completely shut down their activities and pushed millions of workers into unemployment. Many of them intended to go back to their villages and hometowns, raising fears of mass migration and potential spread of the virus. The condition was so dire that many patients also ran out of soap, a critical need to prevent COVID-19.
These issues were reported to Operation ASHA’s head office which immediately took concrete actions: phone top-ups, food rations, rent subsidies and soap bars were provided to patients with the aim of minimizing population movement and ensuring treatment adherence.
Between April 6th and May 24th, 2020, OpASHA was able to benefit 12,600 families – including 2,200 families of TB patients, 400 families of MDR-TB patients and 10,000 disadvantaged migrant families in 5 cities in India. Furthermore, Psychological support was provided through counsellors who remained in touch with TB patients.
Operation ASHA has also uploaded its entire series of eCounselling videos on Youtube and Facebook so that patients have access to them from the comfort of their homes. These videos were developed to answer frequently asked questions and motivate TB patients towards treatment adherence. (Find all videos here.)
Operation ASHA’s CHWs demonstrated their commitment to bettering patients’ well-being by ensuring none of them defaulted on their treatment despite this challenging context. OpASHA will continue to financially support TB patients until the lockdown is lifted and until they return to gainful employment.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]