Prisons and the National TB Programme in India

‘Tuberculosis disease among Prison inmates is one of the major public health concerns. While, globally and India is moving towards “END TB” by 2025, containing infection transmission from prison to community vice-versa remains a challenge. Studies in Indian prisons have shown limitations in screening, access to diagnosis and treatment services and linkages to National Tuberculosis Programme. There is limited understanding about how policies perceive these linkages.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to (a) understand whether the polices address three core areas – prison environment, infection control measures and healthcare service (accessibility and availability) (b) to develop a conceptual model to integrate prison services with the national TB programme. This article here highlights the gaps in key areas of policies and outlines the conceptual model aimed at establishing the linkages with health services and National Tuberculosis Programme with an objective is to enable in early case detection, minimize delay in treatment initiation and ensure treatment completion.

Please see the link to the full article below, on p.46-57. http://bprd.nic.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/201907131056455409285IPJJan-March2019forBPR&D.pdf

If you want to contact the author directly for more information you can on Dr Prasad BM - drprasadbm@gmail.com