Foreword and Acknowledgement

Foreword

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Capacity building of human resources is vital for achieving uniformity, effectiveness and high quality of services. State TB Training and Demonstration Centre (STDC) is the technical arm of the state TB programme. STDCs had undergone transformation over the years to technical units within the states to provide technical and managerial assistance to State TB Cell since the time of National TB Programme. To standardize the role of STDCs in NTEP,a reference guideline was prepared by the Central TB Division and the National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI),Bengaluru in 2003 for establishment and functioning of the STDCs in the states.

Strengthening of STDCs has been planned by NTEP under the ‘Build’ component of National Strategic Plan. With increased commitment for TB elimination by 2025, the NTEP has exhibited accelerated transformation since past few years. This has resulted into rapid changes across multiple domains/aspects of the NTEP. Thereis a felt need to strengthen roles of STDCs in various areas, especially training and supervision, monitoring andevaluation.

The updated guiding document of STDCs incorporates the current NTEP guidelines and also includes technological advances in the sphere of training and monitoring activities. I am sure that this guiding document will be of immense help to the STDC.

TB Harega, Desh Jeetega!

Dr. Rajejndra P. Joshi

Acknowledgement

The Guidelines and Norms for STDCs in NTEP (2023), the lead for which was taken by Central TB Division (CTD) and National Training Institute (NTI), Bengaluru to update the version published in 2003. This document is an end product of a series of consultations and meetings of the working committee held under the chairmanship of Director, NTI. The working committee is composed of technical experts from National Institutes, viz., National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI), National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD), National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), development partners including The Union, World Health Organization (WHO), State Technical Experts including State TB Officers, STDC Directors, and Community representatives working in NTEP.

A Consultative Workshop was held at NTI Bengaluru in the presence of Central and State TB Officials in April 2022 to discuss on the felt need of updating the guiding document for functioning of State TB Training and Demonstration Centres (STDCs). An expert committee was formulated to deliberate on the recommendations and update the guiding document. Several meetings were organized physically and virtually in 2022 till 2023 by the CTD with technical and organizational support from National Institutes, The Union and WHO teams. The updated document henceforth, is built on the findings and recommendations of the STDC Baseline Assessment findings conducted by the USAID supported, The Union led iDEFEAT TB Project with the support of their consortium partner IQVIA.

Our deepest gratitude to Ms. Roli Singh, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), MoHFW, GoI, Dr. P. Ashok Babu, JS (RCH & TB), Dr. Vineet Kumar Chadha (Advisor-NTEP) and Dr. K.S. Sachdeva, Regional Director (The Union) for the overall policy guidance and framework. The working on entire document was well supported and guided throughout by Dr. Rajendra P. Joshi-DDG (TB), GoI.

Our sincere thanks to Chair-Dr. N. Somashekar (Director-NTI) for his leadership and spearheading this initiative, Dr. Alok Mathur (ADDG-TB) for his constant support, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Mattoo (ADDG-TB), Dr. Raghuram Rao (ADG-TB), Dr. Nishant Kumar (Joint Director-Public Health) for their valuable inputs and Dr. Ravinder Kumar (TB Specialist-CTD) for his impeccable support throughout the entire process of updating the STDC guidelines. 

We would also like to extend gratitude to Dr. Reuben Swamickan (Division Chief – Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases – USAID India), Dr. Umesh Alavadi (Senior Health Advisor – Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases, USAID India) for their expert guidance and whole hearted support to this initiative. We would also like to thank Dr. Ranjani Ramchandran (NPO-WHO), Dr. Malik Parmar (NPO-WHO), Dr. Kirankumar Rade (NPO-WHO) and Dr. Jyoti Jaju (Project Director-iDEFEAT TB Project, The Union) for overall support.

List of contributors

Dr. Somashekar N (Director, NTI Bengaluru), Dr. Alok Mathur (Addl. DDG-TB, CTD), Dr. Sanjay Mattoo (Addl. DDG-TB, CTD), Dr. Raghuram Rao (ADG-TB, CTD), Dr. Nishant Kumar (Joint Director-Public Health, CTD), Dr. Ravinder Kumar (Specialist-TB, CTD), Dr. Neeta Singla (NITRD), Dr. Tanmaya Talukdar (Professor & Head, LHMC, New Delhi), Dr. C. Ravi Chandra (Director-Training, NTI Bengaluru), Dr. Ranjani Ramchandran (NPO-WHO), Dr. Malik Parmar (NPO-WHO), Dr. Kirankumar Rade (NPO-WHO), Dr. S.K. Tripathi (NTI, Bengaluru), Dr. S. Uma Shankar (NTI, Bengaluru), Dr. Reena (Microbiologist, NTI), Dr. Niti Singh (Consultant Microbiologist, NITRD), Dr. Seenivasan Prabhu (Consultant Microbiologist, NIRT, Chennai), Dr. Sriram (Scientist D, NIRT, Chennai), Dr. Radhakrishnan (Consultant Microbiologist, NIRT, Chennai), Mr. Avijit H. Choudhury (WHO Country Office for India), Dr. Shibu Balakrishnan (NPO-WHO), Dr. Debadutta Parija (RTL-WHO), Dr. Kshitij Khaparde (RTL-WHO), Dr. D. Deka (RTL-WHO), Dr. Shivani Chandra (RTL-WHO), Dr. Sunil Kumar M (STO-Kerala), Dr. K.K. Chopra (Director-STDC, NDTBC), Dr. Md. Hanif (NDTBC), Dr. Anindya Mitra (Director-STDC, Jharkhand), Dr. A. Rajesham (Director STDC, Telangana), Dr. Varsha Rai (Director STDC, MP), Dr. P.R. Agarwal (Director STDC, Rajasthan), Dr. Sandeep Lavania (Director STDC, UP), Dr. Gopal Beri (Director STDC, HP), Dr. B.P. Panda (Director STDC, Odisha), Dr. N.D. Deshmukh (Director STDC, Pune), Dr. Pankaj Nimawat (Addl. Director, STDC Gujarat), Dr. Nirmala (Microbiologist-STDC KA), Dr. Neelam (STDC Bhopal), Dr. Saumya Dhawan (Microbiologist, IRL Bhopal), Dr. Tarun Patni (Microbiologist, IRL Ajmer), Dr. Bandana Choudhary (IRL Guwahati), Dr. S. Anand (National Consultant for TB Laboratories, WHO), Dr. Manu Mathew (The Union), Dr. Rakesh PS (The Union), Dr. R. Lakshmi (WHO-National Consultant), Dr. Shazia Anjum (WHO-SHQ, Karnataka), Dr. Sanjay Suryawanshi (WHO Consultant-Institutional Strengthening), Dr. Heena (NC-STDC Strengthening, The Union), Dr. Sivavallinathan Arunachalam (WHO consultant), Dr. Viral (National Consultant, The Union), Dr. Dheeraj Tumu (WHO Consultant), Ms. Sophia Khumukcham (WHO Consultant), Dr. Ranjeet Prasad (National Consultant, The Union), Ms. Richa Bharti (Technical Officer-ACSM, CTD), Mr. L.R. Sharma (State IEC Officer-HP), Dr. Paranjoy Bordoloi (State IEC Officer-Assam), Sashi Kanta Nayak (The Union), Ms. Himani Verma (Chattisgarh-TB Champion) and Adurrahman Urf Shahazad Ahmad, UP-TB Champion.

The CTD acknowledges the support of the technical experts involved at different stages of development of this guideline. We appreciate the contributions of all individuals who deliberated based on 2003 guidelines and findings of STDC baseline assessment (2022) and guided the way forward for updation of document, including present and former CTD colleagues and colleagues from various other departments. We are thankful to the committee members who participated in incorporating of recommendations put forward during follow-up meetings at NTI, Bengaluru and compilation of chapters including Dr. Ravichandra (NTI, Bengaluru), Dr. Uma Shankar (NTI, Bengaluru), Dr. K.K. Chopra (Director-STDC, Delhi), Dr. Gopal Beri (STO, Himachal Pradesh), Dr. Neeta Singla (NITRD, Delhi), Dr. Niti Singh (NITRD, Delhi), Dr. Mamata HG (NTI, Bengaluru), Dr. Rakesh P.S. (The Union), Dr. Manu E. Mathew (The Union), Dr. Sanjay Suryavanshi (National Consultant-CTD, WHO), Dr. Heena Goyal (National Consultant-CTD, The Union), Dr. Ranjeet Prasad (National Consultant-CTD, The Union).

Our deepest gratitude to Dr. N. Somashekar, Director-NTI, Bengaluru without whose support it would not have been possible to review the content and update the document. Towards the end, our heartfelt thanks to external members who could provide their valuable time to review the guidelines and share inputs for improvisation, including national professional officers from the WHO India, colleagues from non-government organizations and The Union Southeast Asia.