News

Global health leaders launch US$15 million initiative to combat pediatric tuberculosis in India, targeting most vulnerable children

14 October 2024

This announcement was first published on the Clinton Health Access Initiative website and is shared here with their permission.

A woman with her child in India ©Raghavendra V. Konkathi/Unsplash

New York, USA – 23 September 2024 – The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and GiveWell, alongside IDinsight, have unveiled a US$15 million project aimed at preventing the spread of tuberculosis among children under five in India. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative 2024 Annual Meeting in New York.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease worldwide, claiming 1.6 million lives annually. Alarmingly, children under five account for more than 10 percent of all TB deaths globally, with India bearing a significant burden.

In March 2018, Prime Minister Modi made a bold commitment to eliminate TB from India by 2025. TB Preventive Therapy has been a pillar of India’s TB elimination strategy, with a shorter-course regimen, 3HP, introduced in 2023. While these life-saving medications to prevent tuberculosis now exist, families must travel—sometimes many miles and at significant expense—to a clinic to be screened, diagnosed, and then treated.

In support of India’s ambitious elimination goal, CHAI’s Maximum Impact Incubator, funded by GiveWell, is launching an innovative community-based approach to address tuberculosis in children. The incubator finds new and existing highly cost effective programs to scale using CHAI’s substantial footprint and expertise. This initiative will:

Bring medication to prevent TB to homes: Health workers will visit TB patients and their families at home, screening other members of the household for symptoms and providing medicine to children in the community, overcoming the barriers of accessing health centers.
Reduce costs and side effects: CHAI will leverage 20+ years of market-shaping expertise to reduce the cost of a best-in-class TB drug which has recently been recommended for pediatric TB prevention, isoniazid-rifapentine (3HP), which is shorter in duration and has fewer side effects than traditional treatments.
Expand workforce training: 37,000 healthcare workers will be trained to screen and deliver the 3HP regimen, reaching over a quarter million children under five. This initiative is expected to increase preventive drug coverage by 36 percent and reduce tuberculosis cases by 12 percent, saving approximately 1,500 lives.

Healthcare workers will conduct home visits to screen for TB and, where appropriate, offer immediate access to the new preventive treatment—a 12-week, weekly pill regimen.

“With this initiative, we’re bringing life-saving treatment directly to the most vulnerable children to address the difficulties too many families face in accessing healthcare.”

Dr. Neil Buddy Shah, CEO of the CHAI

“This collaboration represents a significant step forward in the fight against tuberculosis, especially among young children.”

Elie Hassenfeld, CEO at GiveWell

“We’re privileged to be part of this transformative initiative, using data to identify and eliminate barriers in the fight against tuberculosis in India.”

Rebecca Gong Sharp, CEO at IDinsight

The initiative will be implemented in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two of India’s most affected states, with a combined population of 340 million. An independent cluster-randomized controlled trial will assess its impact, and the program is designed to transition to government oversight upon completion to ensure long-term sustainability.

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Notes to the Editor

Media Contacts

Name: Corina Milic, Director of Communications, CHAI

Email: cmilic@clintonhealthaccess.org

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About the partners

About Clinton Health Access Initiative

The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and improving health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. For more information, please visit www.clintonhealthaccess.org

About GiveWell

GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give. More than 125,000 donors have trusted GiveWell to direct their donations and given over $2 billion to save over 200,000 lives. For more information, please visit https://www.givewell.org/

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)

Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries. For more information, please visit https://www.clintonfoundation.org/programs/leadership-public-service/clinton-global-initiative/

About IDinsight

IDinsight is a mission-driven global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps global development leaders maximize their social impact. We tailor a wide range of data and evidence tools, including randomized evaluations and machine learning, to help decision-makers design effective programs and rigorously test what works to support communities. We work with governments, multilateral agencies, foundations, and innovative non-profit organizations in Asia and Africa. We work across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, and financial inclusion. We have team members who are remote and have offices in Dakar, Lusaka, Manila, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Rabat.