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“Making TB Our Business” – World Economic Forum Launches First-Ever Business Alliance To Fight Tuberculosis To Mark World TB Day

“Making TB Our Business” – World Economic Forum Launches First-Ever Business Alliance To Fight Tuberculosis To Mark World TB Day

Published 03-22-04

Submitted by World Economic Forum

New Delhi, India –- The World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative marked World TB Day (24 March) by announcing a radical new partnership by business to help fight tuberculosis. The new Business Alliance to Stop TB being launched in India can serve as a model for similar initiatives around the world. The new Alliance will use public and private resources to raise awareness about TB, increase testing and improve treatment. Specifically, Alliance companies will be implementing the revised national TB control programme for their workers and their families in collaboration with the Indian Government. This will enable progress towards controlling TB in India, to be accelerated even further.

Tuberculosis is a deadly killer, yet it is curable for less than US$ 10 per patient – and with the active involvement of business the problem can be managed at the workplace. Similar business alliances have already been used to fight AIDS, particularly in Africa; to date, however, TB – which kills two million people each year – has not received the publicity or profile that its status as a mass killer merits.

The business case to fight TB is clear: TB affects the most productive age group in society resulting in social pain and economic loss by businesses, communities and countries. In India alone, TB leads to a decline in worker productivity in the order of US$ 13 billion annually, according to government figures. Yet, until today, few large Indian employers have been active against TB. Now, for the first time, Indian business is helping the public sector - through the Indian Business Alliance to Stop TB - step up to this important challenge. This is a new role for business and a first for India and worldwide.

“At The World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative, we are delighted to see Indian businesses taking the lead on TB. Everyone recognizes the business sector can play a key role in stopping diseases like TB. Business can bring their skills and resources to bear against the unnecessary loss and suffering of TB. TB kills two million people each year. It’s a tragedy that affects individuals, families, communities, business and national economies, and it’s a tragedy that can be stopped,” said Dr Kate Taylor, Director of the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative.

The Global Health Initiative (GHI) spearheaded the Indian Business Alliance to Stop TB. The RNTCP had already demonstrated they could run an effective TB management program - meeting their goals would be aided by collaborating with business. Indian employers were already running many successful health and welfare programs for their workers’ families and communities, some of which included TB. The need to bring the two together to accelerate case detection and the progress of the RNTCP in India was clear.

The Alliance being launched today comprises the Global Health Initiative, the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP), the Confederation of Indian Industry, the World Health Organization and the Global Partnership to Stop TB. The companies involved are Aditya Birla, Larsen Toubro, Lupin Ltd, Modicare Foundation, Novartis India, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Triveni Sugar. In total these companies cover a population of 3.5 million and have publicly committed to control TB in India.

More on the Indian Business Alliance to Stop Tuberculosis
The mission of the new Indian Alliance Business Alliance to Stop TB is to control TB. Specifically, the Alliance will do this by working in collaboration with the Indian RNTCP on four core workstreams:

  • Raising national public awareness of TB and its symptoms
  • Implementing management of TB (awareness, prevention and treatment programmes) in the workplace
  • Expanding TB detection and treatment under the DOTS strategy
  • Broadening business sector engagement in TB.

    Concrete examples of how this is already being done include:
    - RNTCP providing drugs for free to companies willing to implement TB detection and treatment in line with the DOTS strategy
    - Aditya Birla launching a new workplace and community TB programme covering a total of 3 million people
    - Confederation of Indian Industry to identify and overlay corporate sector coverage to RNTCP mapping
    - Modicare Foundation expanding their foundation scope to include TB as well as HIV
    - Novartis rolling out a new TB workplace policy which will cover their office based staff and their sales force
    - Reliance launching an SMS campaign on TB and rolling out TB control programmes to their key plants
    - Tata Steel better coordinating their TB efforts to control TB amongst their workforce, community and tribal village programme community.

    Mrs. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, The Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, said “We are proud to be part of this initiative. The community and workplace programme we already have covers a population of more than 3 million people – all of these people will now also have access to the new TB program. We hope with our business-like commitment TB will be controlled sooner.”

    More on Tuberculosis in India
    One-third of the world’s TB burden is in India. Tuberculosis kills more people in India and South-East Asia than any other infectious disease – more than HIV, STDs, malaria and tropical diseases combined. In fact, more than 1,000 people die from TB in India every day; 75% are men and women between the ages of 15 and 54, people in the most productive age group.

    Tuberculosis, its symptoms and how to cure it
    Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A person suffering from TB spreads TB through the air. A single patient can infect ten or more people in a year. Yet, TB is treatable and curable. Common symptoms of tuberculosis are:

    • Cough for three weeks or more,
    • Fever, especially at night
    • Weight loss
    • Loss of appetite.
    People with two or more of these symptoms should present themselves to the local RNTCP, workplace TB clinic or to an RNTCP approved private practitioner. Free treatment is available at these centres and can bring TB under control within the first three months and cure it in just one year.

    The Indian Business Alliance to Stop TB was created by the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative to step up the role of business in the fight against TB. Aditya Birla, Larsen Toubro, Lupin Ltd, Modicare Foundation, Novartis India, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Triveni Sugar joined forces in September 2003 when they started developing their action plan and interacting with the Indian RNTCP. Today marks the formal launch of the Alliance and cements the implementation of all the projects it has embarked on. All Indian businesses are welcome to join this Alliance.

    The Alliance is coordinated by the World Economic Forum and the Indian Ministry of Family and Welfare. To contact them you can e-mail globalhealth@weforum.org or postmaster@tbcindi.org. For further information on the Alliance, and TB and business you can also visit www.weforum.org/globalhealth and www.tbcindi.org/home.asp.

    The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world. The Forum provides a collaborative framework for the world's leaders to address global issues, engaging particularly its corporate members in global citizenship.

    Incorporated as a foundation, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. The Forum has NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. (http://www.weforum.org)

    The Global Health Initiative was launched in 2001 by the Forum to increase the quality and quantity of business sector involvement in HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Today the GHI works with over 160 companies, intergovernmental organizations and governments in the US, Europe, Africa and South Asia.

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