Operation ASHA is pleased to announce a new collaboration with USAID.

Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is the emerging man made epidemic. It takes a huge toll on human lives, and the costs associated are astronomical. Prevention of MDR-TB is critical, also because each case of MDR-TB breathes out bacteria that spread MDR-TB to at least 12 other innocent persons. According to the Stop TB Partnership, by 2013 there will be 1.3 million cases of MDR-TB in the world, requiring $16 billion. Patient lapses in first-line tuberculosis treatment, an intense regimen of over 60 visits to treatment centers (DOTS) in six months, are a key cause of MDR-TB.

USAID has agreed to fund a large scale randomized control trial to establish the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the biometric identification system used by Operation ASHA in preventing drug-resistance. This will be achieved by lowering missed doses and enhancing compliance during the long and tedious treatment regimen for TB.

Using fingerprint technology to track patient adherence

The biometric identification system eDOTS, now rechristened as eCompliance used by Operation ASHA, registers the presence of patients and staff at treatment centers through fingerprints, updates this information to a server, and sends daily updates to the concerned counselor and program manager through sms. The message is also relayed to the patients after obtaining consent. Many patients do not agree to this so they can keep their TB status confidential. This is necessary because of the terrible stigma that is attached to the disease, which is known as a “curse from God’ among the illiterate and the disadvantaged.

Information provided in sms enables our counselor and supervisory team to provide targeted counseling to TB patients who begin to lapse on their treatments. eCompliance tracks every dose taken by TB patients, thus preventing default and the dreaded MDR-TB. The system also improves productivity, maintains and archives data electronically, increases transparency, and eliminates human error and gaming.

Potential impacts, cost effectiveness, and implications

A recent pilot tested the eCompliance system with nearly 1,300 TB patients at 17 treatment centers and showed a reduction in the default rate of patient treatment lapses. With a Stage 2 grant from DIV, OpASHA – in collaboration will take the next step of rigorously testing the system at 138 DOTS centers with over 12000 patients. This work will compare the effectiveness and low-cost of eCompliance to conventional methodology.

This project was made possible by the generous support of the American People.

About USAID: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. 

In a special January/February 2013 issue, The Global Journal released its inaugural Top 100 NGOs list– the first comprehensive ranking of organizations operating within the non-profit world.

For the purposes of this project, they defined NGOs as operational or advocacy focused non-profit organizations active at the local, national or international level. The 2013 list features NGOs from 27 countries and working across a range of sectors: from building a fleet of motorbikes and off-road ambulances to ensure the delivery of vital health care resources across Africa, to pioneering video as a popular tool for the protection of human rights. The Global Journal considered a pool of approximately 450 NGOs this year based on three key criteria: impact, innovation and sustainability.

Among the pool of 450 NGOs, Operation ASHA was ranked 48^th. Operation ASHA is one of the six NGOs selected in Top 100 from India.

Dec 8, 2012: Bill Gates, the American business magnate and philanthropist, tweeted about how Microsoft Research has partnered with Operation ASHA in India to fight Tuberculosis.

Microsoft Research India recently releases a news item on ” Battling Tuberculosis Through Microsoft Technology”. The article talks in details about how Microsoft Research partnered with Operation ASHA to develop biometric monitoring system to help patients complete tuberculosis treatment programs. Tweeting about this article, Bill Gates said-

.@MSFTResearch has teamed up with @OperationASHA to fight#TB in India. Better data = better outcomes: http://b-gat.es/VoMO2m

To read full article, click here.

October 19th, 2012: Dr. Shelly Batra, President, Operation ASHA was invited to speak on ‘Health Care at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ at Pinnacle, ISB flagship leadership Summit, in Mohali campus.

Pinnacle is the annual Flagship Event for the Indian School of Business held at its Mohali Campus. Bringing a confluence of top level Business Leaders, Academia, Students and Media together on one platform, the summit is a melting pot of diverse experiences and varied perspectives of industry experts and visionaries. Organized by the Graduate Student Association, Pinnacle offers participants the opportunity to learn, interact and get inspired by business stalwarts in a dynamic and constructive environment.

“Welcome to India, the land of Gandhi and Mother Teresa. The country of 700 million mobile phones but not enough toilets. The country where starvation deaths do NOT make headlines, where slavery exists, where inspite of the economic boom and billions of $$ spent on health programs, the government has not been able to fulfill its promise to its citizens, of affordable, equitable, and accessible health care”, says Dr. Shelly Batra in her talk on Health for BOP. According to her, the solution lies in building effective partnerships with the private sector in order to achieve the health care goals in India. Read a brief summary of her talk here.

September 29th, 2012: Mr. Sandeep Ahuja, CEO, Operation ASHA was invited to address TiEcon 2012, India’s biggest entrepreneurial event in Delhi (NCR).

TiEcon 2012 Delhi took place on September 28-29th. Mr. Ahuja, spoke on a panel about social entrepreneurship, specifically in India, with fellow alumni from the university of chicago. He discussed how Operation ASHA’s approach to measuring outcomes and explained how this supports the organization’s impact over the long-term. He also mentioned how operation ASHA has managed to grow from single employee six years ago to nearly 250 employees across 3 countries and how Operation ASHA is impacting policy. The presentation was well-received and garnered much interest from participants eager to learn more.

For further information about our unique model, please visit: http://www.opasha.org/our-work/tb-treatment/

Mr. Sandeep Ahuja, CEO, Operation ASHA was invited to speak in the 2011 India Development Marketplace (IDM) Annual Event organized by International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, in Delhi (NCR).

As an IDM 2011 winner, OpASHA was invited to attend the 2011 Annual Event, organized by IFC, from 19th June 2012- 21st June 2012. The main  purpose of this 3-day event was to bring all IDM 2011 winners together in an interactive forum to share their experiences  as they continue to do amazing work in benefitting the lives of many under-served people in Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan. Additionally, workshops were organized to deliver technical assistance interventions on monitoring and impact evaluation and design thinking.

As part of the Gala Dinner, on 19th June, Sandeep Ahuja was invited to deliver a 45-minute talk on Operation ASHA’s learning as the organization has evolved over the past few years. The presentation was well received by the conference participants. In fact, many of them showed interest in OpASHA’s highly innovative community empowerment model and wanted to see our eCompliance in action.

To know more about our model, please visit http://www.opasha.org/our-work/tb-treatment/

Dr. Shelly Batra, President and Co-founder of Operation ASHA, presented a webinar to Core Group on “Tuberculosis Treatment: Successes and Challenges in the Field-An Overview from India” on Thursday, 5th April 2012.

In support of the World TB Day 2012 spotlight on Pediatric TB, CORE Group’s Tuberculosis Working Group presented three webinars from world leaders in the fight against pediatric TB. The final in the series was presented by Dr. Batra.

To listen to a recording of the webinar, click here.

To download the presentation as PDF, click here.

Dr. Shelly Batra, President, Operation ASHA traveled to the UK to participate in the Cambridge Global Health Commericialization & Funding Roundtable 2012.

On Thursday 19th April – Friday 20th April, 2012 The Center for Technology Management at The  University of Cambridge hosted the Global Health Commericialization & Funding Roundtable 2012. The aim of of this high-level roundtable meeting was to explore business models for entrepreneurs & the private sector to discover, develop and deliver innovations in global health (with a concentration on tuberculosis).

Dr. Shelly presented Operation ASHA’s innovative eCompliance and Community Empowerment Model at this meeting. Tremendous amount of interest was generated in OpASHA’s program. Cambridge students and faculty were fascinated by our patient-friendly approach. Doctors from NHS (National health service) & HPA (Health Protection Agency) are now keen to discuss ways and means of fighting the menace of TB in UK.

To know more about our model, please visit http://www.opasha.org/our-work/edots-innovation-and-health/