Advocacy

The STC has been provided ACSM Officer from the NTEP for carrying out and coordinating the ACSM activity in the State. The overall responsibility of ACSM activity would therefore lie with the STC. The STDCs would be required to provide technical inputs to make the ACSM activities more effective and also take certain advocacy activities themselves. The Key role of STDC is described as under: STDCs need to provide technical support to STC for:

• Advocacy with political and administrative officials at state and district level to obtain approvals on plans and secure necessary resources for the interventions in state TB elimination strategy. These may be from sources such NHM, State Health System, Government representatives, Panchayati Raj Institutions, private and corporate entities, and the civil society and community at large.
• Advocacy with scientific/ professional/ academic organizations/ institutions, Political leaders, Opinion leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), TB Champions, AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), Corporates and other government departments for implementation of the state TB Elimination strategy and for following Standards of TB Care in India
• Designing and Development of Advocacy and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material in local language including contents for social media.
• Supporting the state and districts to develop annual ACSM plan.
• Dissemination of programme performance through publication of Bulletin / Newsletter every quarter.
• Design and implement “TB-Free Village” Certification as an advocacy initiative