The TB Quest Awards were given at a function hosted by the India Health Fund and supported by the Global Coalition against TB in the Capital recently. Guests of Honour on this occasion were Dr Kirit Solanki, Member of Parliament, Mr Dalbir Singh, President, Global Coalition Against TB, Dr Henk Bekedam, Representative to India, World Health Organisation, and Dr KS Sachdeva, Deputy Director General, Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) Government of India.

The TB Quest Awards were given at a function hosted by the India Health Fund and supported by the Global Coalition against TB in the Capital recently. Guests of Honour on this occasion were Dr Kirit Solanki, Member of Parliament, Mr Dalbir Singh, President, Global Coalition Against TB, Dr Henk Bekedam, Representative to India, World Health Organisation, and Dr KS Sachdeva, Deputy Director General, Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) Government of India.

TB has been a long-standing health challenge for India, accounting for nearly 4 lakh deaths annually. With over 21 lakh TB cases reported in the India TB Report 2019, the country accounts for 27 percent of the global TB burden. The Government of India has set a target of eliminating TB by 2025, a vision that demands innovative ideas, bold approaches, and unprecedented investments by stakeholders across the board.

India Health Fund (IHF) is an initiative seeded by the Tata Trusts and endeavours to strengthen India’s ability to fight and eliminate the public health challenges of Tuberculosis and Malaria. It has been created as a platform to aggregate risk capital from multiple sources in private and public sectors and allocates capital efficiently to the most promising and relevant innovations. India Health Fund supports innovators to accelerate their “lab to market” journey, most importantly the validation and adoption by the health systems.

IHF believes in bridging the gap between the public as well as the private sphere of innovation and technology. With this aim in view, IHF initiated the Quest for Innovations towards Eliminating Tuberculosis (TB Quest) Awards that acknowledge and foreground entrepreneurs and innovators working consistently to scale-up innovative platforms or practices that are focused on crucial areas that require attention. These include bringing ‘missing’ TB patients within the purview of care; screening and appropriate management for Latent TB Infection (LTBI) among all identified high-risk population groups in India; infection control in settings such as health care facilities, crowded habitations where transmission is high and helping to bridge gaps in the supply chain of anti-TB drugs and consumables in the public and private sectors.

TB Quest would not only help to transform the key aspects of a TB Care Ecosystem but greatly contribute towards the government’s initiatives in the fight against TB by providing them with the prerequisite science and technology innovations to do the same efficiently.