Sarojkumar Chhatria

Operation ASHA

Operation ASHA is dedicated to bringing tuberculosis treatment and health services to India's underserved communities through the usage of biometric technology and last-mile delivery. For TB treatment, patients visit a designated centre daily and take medicine in the presence of a trained worker. To reach the unreached, OpASHA utilizes space in the premises of local doctors, chemist stores, temples, tea shops, etc. to set up treatment centers that are easily accessible. These are manned by locally hired and trained youth who work as Community Health Workers (CHWs). Centers are open early morning and late night, so nobody has to miss work and wages to get medicine. CHWs also carry out education of families, de-stigmatization, case detection, and full treatment to prevent drug resistant TB. The biometric strategy OpASHA deploys is called eCompliance Suite, and is a combination of 3 technologies: eCompliance, eDetection, and eAlert System. Together, these technological tools have helped OpASHA achieve an extremely low default of less than 3% in TB and an unprecedented treatment success rate of 89%, as compared to the 73% success rate as reported by the Government of India. Operation ASHA is among the world's largest NGOs in tuberculosis treatment and prevention, making our services available to more than 15.6 million people. With treatment centers established in more than 5,000 slums and villages in 6 Indian states and 6 Cambodian provinces, our team plans to expand to other regions of the developing world afflicted with TB. Our model is 32 times more cost-efficient than that of other nonprofits in developing countries with the cost of TB treatment per patient being only $80 (https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/achieving-tb-milestones-through-last-mile-delivery-india). We continue to move forward, striving towards a TB-free India.