PUDUCHERRY: The Union ministry of science and technology, department of biotechnology (DBT), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, US) and the office of Aids Research of the US National Institutes of Health have launched a collaborative project under the Indo-US vaccine action programme to address the growing challenges in controlling tuberculosis in India.
The collaborative project was conceived three years ago to involve global TB experts in addressing tuberculosis in India. India has not achieved the desired results in reducing the prevalence of tuberculosis despite launching the revised national TB control programme.
More than 60 experts from the US and Indian institutes, including Jawaharlal Institute of postgraduate Medical education and Research (Jipmer) and Christian Medical College, Vellore, deliberated on the strategies to be adopted in reducing the prevalence of tuberculosis in India.
Prominent among those who participated include DBT secretary K Vijay Raghavan, DBT senior advisor T S Rao, Gray Handley from NIAID and Amy Dubois from the US Health Attache.