Physical Health India Project #6656

Treating 3500 Poor TB Patients in India & Cambodia

by Operation ASHA

Treating 3500 Poor TB Patients in India & Cambodia

Project Report | Nov 19, 2018
3 year old Chikoo is learning to play cricket

By Sandeep Ahuja | CEO

Dear Friend,

There was great jubilation in the village when Chikoo was born. His mother Salma had lost five children in childbirth. Her face was prematurely lined with grief, but she broke into laughter when blessed with a healthy baby. Chikoo was plump and active, and his loud, lusty cries when hungry would rouse the entire neighbourhood. He proved to be a boon to the family. Salma, who would stitch clothes on her sewing machine for the neighbours, began to get more business coming her way. Shabaz, Chikoo's father, was a carpenter and a cricket aficionado and an ardent fan of Kapil Dev, and he whittled a cricket bat from a piece of wood, waiting for the day when father and son would play cricket together.

But then unexpectedly, gradually and imperceptibly, Chikoo became sick. He could not eat or play, and his lusty cries dwindled to feeble whimpers. His parents went running from pillar to post to find a cure, but no diagnosis could be made, and no treatment started. His condition kept deteriorating till he became a shadow of his former self. The cricket bat kept gathering dust in a corner. Chikoo's parents bled themselves white to pay for his treatment, but to no avail. Then one day, the sewing machine had to be sold and the family income came down drastically.

Then one day, Operation ASHA’s health worker Laxmi met Salma at a village gathering. Laxmi fixed an appointment in the local public hospital and took Chikoo there for testing and treatment. Chikoo was diagnosed with paediatric TB, and thus began a long and difficult journey. For full six months, Laxmi gave every support to the family. She would go everyday on a bicycle to visit and would coax Chikoo to take his medicine. She would take him on her lap and rock him and tell him stories. Sometimes she would bring little gifts and candy. And every day, without fail, she would give him medicines with her own hands.

Now Chikoo has recovered fully. He is three years old. His voice is loud and clear and confident. Salma and Laxmi are the best of friends. And yes, the father and son play cricket every day. "My son will be another Kapil Dev! He will score centuries and beat the British," boasts Shabaz proudly.

This is not a miracle. This is what we do day after day for many, many children, those who live in far flung areas, in villages and slums and mountains, those who are marginalised and hungry and live in great deprivation. And it’s you who is helping us serve these children and fulfill our mission. Thank you very much for your unswerving support.

Media mentions

Goldman Sachs declared Operation ASHA a winner of the Analyst Impact Fund Competition, 2018, for bringing tuberculosis t
Treatment and health services to the underprivileged.
Our President, Dr. Shelly Batra is one of the 6 people selected across the world for an award by the Pierre Fabre Foundation for her work in social entrepreneurship. Foundation Pierre Fabre also recognized our innovative works and selected us for "The 3rd Global South eHealth Observatory Award- 2018”.
Operation ASHA collaborated with the NGO Every Infant Matters and Virat hospitals in Rewari, India to carry out health-related activities for children, such as awareness of proper hand washing techniques, vitamin A distribution, and deworming.
Forbes magazine interviewed Dr. Shelly Batra, our President and Cofounder, who is using voice-to-text technology as her office assistant to save costs and maximize efficiency.
Operation ASHA was recently shortlisted as one of the finalists for the Peter Drucker Prize, 2018.
Our CEO, Mr. Sandeep Ahuja represented Operation ASHA at MIT Solve in New York City. Operation ASHA has been selected as one of the finalists for this challenge out of 1150 solutions submitted from 110 countries.
Pradeep Chintagunta, a leading professor of marketing from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business delivered an impressive lecture on how he used the concept of marketing to improve detection of tuberculosis patients in India. We are honored that professor Chintagunta chose Operation Asha for the entire fieldwork. The presentation was organized by IIM, Ahmedabad in collaboration with Unilever India. It was held at COWORKS, Mumbai. An impressive gathering of IIM alumnus and other dignitaries including Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla appreciated the work done by Professor Chintagunta and Operation Asha.
Operation ASHA won the "Top-Rated Nonprofit Award- 2018" from "GREAT NONPROFITS", the best platform for community-sourced stories about nonprofits. We secured this place for expanding access to health services of a high quality at affordable prices among disadvantaged communities.
Dr Shelly Batra was invited to the UN General assembly in Sept 2018, and also to the World Economic Forum's Sustainable Development Impact summit as Discussion Leader for the session on Realizing Universal Health Coverage.
Our President Dr Shelly Batra was invited for a Roundtable discussion by Tata Trust's India Health Fund. The topic was - Identifying problems for prioritizing actionable solutions for TB. She presented Operation ASHA's extensive use of low-cost, easy to use technology to ensure every dose, monitor staff, bring down costs, and give the best results in the world, with absolute accuracy and transparency.

Case study of a patient

Manisha is a 24 year old female living in the slums of Vasai in Bilalpada area. She is survived by her 3 sisters and a father. She lost her mother a few years back due to illness. Her father runs a small general store in the slum itself. This is the only source of income for the survival of the family of five.

Manisha started feeling very weak and lost a lot of weight before getting diagnosed for TB. The family was not sound financially, and hence, it took them a lot of time to get diagnosed as they were visiting private doctors. The doctor had prescribed her antibiotics which had no positive impact on her body. She grew very weak and lean and the family was under tremendous pressure as they ran out of money and were barely able to manage for their food.

Then one fine day, our Provider, Ganesh met Manisha during his field visits in the slum. He spoke to her in detail about the symptoms and got to know that she may be a prospective TB case. He collected her sputum samples and transported them for testing. When the results were out, Manisha’s world turned upside down. She was diagnosed with pulmonary positive TB.

Ganesh counselled her and her family about her disease and next steps. Manisha started treatment immediately but her body had grown very weak and the medicines had a lot of side effects. She used to vomit after every dose. She had lost all the hopes by now and decided to quit her treatment. In the mean time she was also diagnosed with typhoid. She was not at all ready to take any treatment now. Neither for TB and nor for Typhoid. Ganesh and her family members were doing their best to convince her for treatment.

Finally after putting a lot of efforts and interference of our Program Manager, the patient agreed to take treatment of Typhoid. When her Typhoid got well, she immediately started TB treatment as well. She is now feeling a lot better and has again started doing her routine work just like before. She has also shown notable weight gain and feels strong and motivated now.

Donations raised

This quarter, Operation ASHA raised $155. These donations will be used to provide medicines, grocery, and other necessary day to day items to the disadvantaged TB patients in India Cambodia.

Operation ASHA is thankful to its supporters for joining hands in TB eradication. We look forward to your continued support.

Thank you

Sandeep Ahuja

CEO, Operation ASHA

Donate now

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Aug 27, 2018
Knight Wolf arrives on the TB horizon to make the world TB-free

By Sandeep Ahuja | CEO

Launch of comic book

Dear Friend,

Meet Knight Wolf, the new TB Champion!

Knight Wolf is a superhero with superpowers, who fights evil doers with great panache and incredible bravery. He is also fighting Tuberculosis by giving health education and raising awareness about TB in a fun-filled manner- via a beautifully illustrated comic book.

Knight Wolf is the brainchild of Grant Reed, a 12 year-old schoolboy from the US, who, at this tender age, is the Creative Director for Operation ASHA.

We had a spectacular launch of the comic book in Mumbai, in a fully packed auditorium in St. George's Hospital. The Chief Guest, Dr. Sanjeev Kamble, Director of Health Services of Maharashtra, give an inspirational speech on Knight Wolf that was met with foot-stomping and thumping applause till the very rafters of the hall were ringing. The glittering ceremony was attended by government officials, State TB officers from other parts of the country, CEOs from corporates, and most importantly, our own TB patients who listened with rapt attention, and our very own TB health workers who serve patients with love and care and the utmost sincerity.

There was a widespread cheering and clapping when Dr Kamble said, "Knight Wolf is the new TB champion. He is telling children exciting stories of good conquering over evil, and at the same time, he is giving health education by graphics and pictures. Children like pictures, not lectures! A comic book is exactly what we need in the fight against TB."

We are grateful to Grant Reed for his brilliant creation and for investing his time, expertise, creativity and resources in bringing forward a solution for TB elimination. The comic book has already been translated into 3 languages, and more than 40,000 copies are being distributed to disadvantaged children in TB treatment centres, schools, hospitals, and other resource-limited settings.

Knight Wolf will be a new paradigm in the fight against TB. Lack of awareness is the reason why 3 million TB patients go 'missing' every year. We cannot allow this anymore. It's time to utilise every tool effectively in the fight against TB, and this is why we need your support at this crucial time.

OpASHA media mentions:

1. Operation ASHA recently won the Millennium Alliance Round 5 grant which will help us in reaching out to more TB patients and provide them treatment at their doorsteps.

2. Goldman Sachs declared Operation ASHA a winner of the Analyst Impact Fund Competition, 2018, for bringing tuberculosis treatment and health services to the underprivileged.

3. Our President, Dr. Shelly Batra is one of the 6 people selected across the world for an award by the Pierre Fabre Fondation for her work in social entrepreneurship.

4. Operation ASHA participated in a conference organised by the USAID funded TB CARE II Project, called “Digital Health Technologies for a World Free of TB”. The workshop was held in New Delhi, India and attended by Ministries of Health and National TB Program (NTP) staff involved in digital technologies platforms from the 10 NAP (National Action Plan) countries.

5. Operation Asha collaborated with the NGO Every Infant Matters and Virat hospitals in Rewari, India to carry out health-related activities for children, such as awareness of proper hand washing techniques, vitamin A distribution, and deworming.

Patient's story:

Manju, a 40 year old working women, lives in the slums of Bhud in the Baddia area, with her husband and 4 children. She used to work as a help at some local restaurant. Her husband used to work as a chauffeur somewhere. Although, both earned a meagre salary every month, but were managing to get food on table for the family. The situation worsened when 3 months ago, Manju’s husband was thrown out of his job due to a dispute, followed by a fight with his owner. However, Manju was still continuing her job but her deteriorating health had forced her to think how she will continue with her work.

It was sunny day when our CHW was on round in Bhud and was moving in Slums finding out people with TB symptoms. There she came across the kids of Manju who were playing outside. As she briefed them about the symptoms, one of the kid said that my mother has such symptoms. Our CHW went to the house of Manju along with the children and saw her situation herself. She spoke to Manju about the symptoms and was quite sure that Manju is suffering with TB.

The sputum sample of Manju was sent to lab for getting tested and she was diagnosed with pulmonary TB. Sunita, our CHW, immediately started Manju’s treatment and at the same time, got her family members tested as well to ensure all were safe. She counselled Manju and her family together and told them about the precautions and measures to be taken by the family so that the disease doesn’t spread.

Manju has completed her one month treatment and there is tremendous improvement in her health. She has even joined back her work and is the sole bread-winner for the family now. Sunita frequently visits Manju to take updates on her health and in the mean-time Manju updated Sunita about the health of a boy living in her neighbourhood. The boy also has symptom of TB.

With Manju’s help, the boy has also been tested for TB and has been diagnosed as well. The boy is also taking treatment now. Manju’s words and her experience with the disease in the past, along with the counselling done by our CHW, is helping the boy to be positive towards his health condition.

Donations raised:

This quarter, Operation ASHA raised $177. These donations will be used to provide medicines, grocery, and other necessary day to day items to the disadvantaged TB patients in India Cambodia.

Operation ASHA is thankful to its supporters for joining hands in TB eradication. We look forward to your continued support.

Thank you

Donate now

You can follow OpASHA's CEO Mr. Sandeep Ahuja (@sandeepahuja12) and President Dr. Shelly Batra (@shells1857) on Twitter. You can also follow OpASHA on Facebook and Twitter.

Launch of comic book

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May 29, 2018
Treating 3500 poor TB patients in India & Cambodia

By Sandeep Ahuja | CEO

Dear Friend,

There is lots of exciting news! The Honourable Health Minister of India, Mr JP Nadda, and the Honourable Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh inaugurated our project and eCompliance last week, in an inspiring and spell binding ceremony held in Kullu. Kullu is located in a breathtakingly beautiful valley in the Himalayas, surrounded by majestic mountains and ever-flowing rivers.

But mountains are not about beauty alone. TB patients here live miles away from civilization in tiny hamlets scattered on the mountain sides. The Health Minister Mr JP Nadda pointed out to the Chief Minister of the State that eight of the thirty worst effected TB districts in India are in Himachal Pradesh alone. Our work is challenging, as finding these patients is a gigantic task. We have health workers on motor cycles who drive as far as it is possible on difficult, narrow, ill-kept roads, and then scramble on foot up the mountains to serve TB patients in their homes. We are serving a population of 1 million such people and hope to detect and treat atleast 3,000 patients a year. This takes the total population served by Operation ASHA, for TB, to 5 million in India, and over 10 million worldwide.

In the inauguration ceremony, Mr Nadda and the Honourable Chief Minister took fingerprints of the first patient found by Operation ASHA in Himachal and initiated him on TB treatment. In his resounding speech, Mr. Nadda spoke enthusiastically about eCompliance and stated that his target is to expand eCompliance further in the State. We are privileged and humbled by their support.

Also, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, invited Dr Shelly Batra to write a blog on the occasions of on World TB Day. Please click here to access her blog.

OpASHA media mentions:

Dr Shelly Batra was one of the 1500 people (out of 45,000 from across the globe) to be selected to attend the Global Entrepreneur Summit-2017 where honorable Prime Minister Mr. Modi and Ivanka Trump were the Chief Guests.
Network Capital interviews Dr Shelly Batra, who gives career advice for mentoring young students. Click here to read her interview

Conferences:

Our Co-Founder and CEO, Sandeep Ahuja was invited to speak at a panel discussion at the HITLAB Innovators Summit 2018 held at IIT Delhi.
Our Co-Founder and President, Dr Shelly Batra was invited to speak at a facilitated panel discussion in the final plenary of the 5th annual global forum on TB Vaccines.
Our CTO, Sonali Batra gave a talk at a machine learning conference on 18th March titled ‘Operation ASHA- Using data analytics and machine learning to save lives’.
Sonali Batra also presented a poster on eCompliance biometric software in the 5th annual global forum on TB Vaccines held at the Taj in New Delhi.

You can follow OpASHA's CEO Mr. Sandeep Ahuja (@sandeepahuja12) and President Dr. Shelly Batra (@shells1857) on Twitter. You can also follow OpASHA on Facebook and Twitter.

Donation Utilization:

This quarter Operation ASHA raised $ 179.55 which will be used to provide food and other necessary day to day items for the poorest patients in India and Cambodia.

Operation ASHA has reached this level and is taking steps toward a TB free world because of you. Please extend your support one more time. Please go to Donate Now to make a tax deductible donation to save the lives of disadvantaged patients.

Thank you.

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