Type: Blended
PHASE: Design
CATEGORY: Health
LOCATION: Bangalore, India
TESS - Eradicate TB - SMS IT
Asia

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TESS - Tuberculosis Eradication SMS Service. SMS Service as a tool for the fight against Tuberculosis in developing nations. From medication alerts to efficient communication systems for ensuring cure and control TB

Standings & Awards

1313 out of 1313 in Asia
284 out of 284 in Health
935 out of 935 in Design
1066 out of 1066 in Blended
4003 out of 4003 Overall
Empowering TB patients and DOTS providers with the right Information at the right time for better cure

Tuberculosis (TB)

TB describes an infectious disease that has plagued humans since the Neolithic times. Even though curative medicines are available, M. tuberculosis, the microbe causing TB continues to kill millions of people yearly worldwide. In 2010, about 1.4 million people died from TB. More than 90% of TB cases occur in developing nations. India alone accounts for 1/5 th of the global incidence burden with an annual incidence of 1.9 million. India now has the highest global burden of TB.

DOTS

Around 41 million TB patients have been successfully treated in DOTS(Directly observed treatment under Supervision) programs and over 6 million lives saved.Further lives can be saved by proper implementation of the DOTS program primarily in developing countries which lack efficient monitoring systems and infrastructure to successfully run the program.

The Problem of Drug Resistance in TB

The emergence of resistance to drugs used to treat TB, and particularly MultiDrug Resistant TB(MDR-TB), has become a significant public health problem in many countries and an obstacle to effective TB control, and also threatening to make this disease once again an incurable one. In 2010, there was an estimated prevalence of 650,000 cases of MDR-TB. In 2008 it was estimated there were 150,000 MDR-TB deaths annually. Resistance levels are known to be high in areas with a ill performing DOTS programmes, use of inadequate regimens and ineffective directly observed treatment(DOT) coupled with poor patient compliance to the medications

TESS

This multidimensional SMS service will provide a integrated system for continuous monitoring and communication with patients and will be a portal for exchange of information for an online database. Regular SMS alerts regarding scheduled doses, along with information regarding drug adverse effects, help-lines and corresponding DOTS provider as well as schedules for next health check up and sputum test will be sent to the patient. It will also empower the DOTS provider by providing them, an easier mode of communication with the higher centers, the data and statistics as well as for timely drug supply. Eradication of TB lies in the hands of the two most important people in the dots program that is the patient itself and the dots provider. This service enhances their capacity to bring about the requisite change.

Sponsors, Investors, and Supporters

National Informatics Centre
The premier ICT organisation of Govt. of India
This organization hosts and maintains most of the Indian government websites as well as state government sites. Its role in design, implementation, and maintenance of information technology programs related to government is huge.

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation? 
An SMS integrated information service connecting the patients suffering from TB with DOTS providers and Health care administration centres. Although SMS systems have been used in Health care services, their use in the Indian context integrated with National health programmes has not been done before. SMS will be used as a portal for disseminating information and gathering information for a connected/centralized database.
2. Who gains the most? 
The patients suffering from tuberculosis, the health program in terms of success rates. Drug resistant TB which is on a rise requires specialized methods of diagnosis and a prolonged treatment period (24-27 Months). The drugs for MDR TB are three hundred times as costly as the first line drugs and also more toxic and less effective. By utilizing TESS,and effectively implementing DOTS, MDR TB can be prevented, preventing a drain on human and financial resources of the administrating bodies.
3. Who pays? 
We plan to run the project on funds received from TB control cell of government, organizations like STOP TB, WHO, Bell Melinda Gates foundation, State health programs as well as Corporate and private donors. We do not intend to make profit through the program and thus will purely rely on the supportive funding.We are hoping that the costs of large scale implementation of the TESS program in terms of software implementation and development would be borne by National Informatics Centre.
4. What is your success? 
This is an effective health care management system and treatment compliance enhancement system that can be integrated with the previously existing TB control program without much additional expensive infrastructure due to widespread reach of mobile networks. It will decrease wastage of resources due to better surveillance and ensure better compliance, reducing emergence of drug resistant TB, containing its spread, hence leading to improving the TB control program outcomes.
5. How will you do it? 
We shall build the server setup with the help of National Informatics center and ask TB control cell of government of India to permit and support us to pilot the project in a small block. After which district, state level and national level service expansion would be carried out with a national database. Continuous improvements to overcome the loopholes if any will be done based in pilot and from other similar IT based public health programs. This can also be extended to other nations later.