More than 12,000 referrals from the community

CHWs, local government institutions, informal healthcare providers, laypeople, etc. have referred more than 9500 of their fellow residents to the program as possibly suffering from TB. After screening in the field, CHWs decided that about a quarter of these were indeed suspected cases of TB. In the 5 years since its inception in July 2010, the program has arranged for the diagnosis of 4184 patients, of which 1333 were diagnosed with the disease. 1154 have completed treatment, and 179 were on treatment as of December 2015. There have been 95 adverse outcomes thus far.

Quadrupled access

In a comparative study of two rural populations (about 70,000 each) in our catchment, our interventions quadrupled access when compared with the control (based on data collected by the national TB program.) 

Empowered women

More than 100 female community health workers (CHWs) have joined Aahan to deliver drugs to more than 1300 patients. 18 of these women are facilitators who manage the entire program in their respective catchment populations. The CHWs have received tremendous social recognition in our otherwise deeply conservative and  patriarchal communities. The program has not only been a source of income, but also new skills, literacy, and confidence.

Cumulative number of patients in two adjacent catchment areas of about 70,000 residents each. (Source: National TB program data for 15 quarters.)