Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Saksham, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Introduction

"Saksham" which means augmenting capabilities, is a flagship initiative of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) since 2008 to support the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India in its in its fight against HIV and TB. Saksham focuses on strengthening the psycho social response of both the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) as well as the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP).

Notable Features of Saksham

Saksham was a Principal Recipient (PR) under the Global Fund Round-7 with the NACP and Developed and implemented Capacity Building process for strengthening HIV counselling across India and continues to undertake projects with Global Fund grants to support the MoHFW , uninterrupted since 2008.

Over its nearly two-decade history, Saksham has diligently cultivated its expertise in implementation and capacity building, particularly in the realm of psychosocial aspects of health.

Saksham is also an apt example of a sustainable health intervention project that has three other notable features to its credit. It is a successful model of public-public partnership where the govt – Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has successfully partnered with a public funded University (TISS), and a consortium of academic partners has led the fight against TB and HIV at the community level and provided critical evidence for what works. The third credit is on account of successfully transferring learnings of one national program to another – from HIV prevention to TB control. India has few such examples to show case.

Currently Saksham has two major grants in the area of TB counselling, Capacity Building and HIV evaluations.

Project Details

I Saksham Pravaah – TB Component (2015 – 2027)

The alarming increase of Drug Resistant (DR) TB in India and understanding of the social drivers of TB called for a paradigm shift in the programmatic response for DR-TB treatment. Since 2015, Saksham Pravaah , has demonstrated the need to move beyond the bio-medical approach and focus on psychosocial aspects of TB. Saksham in collaboration with the Central TB Division (CTD) introduced professional counselling for DRTB patients. in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Saksham developed a patient centric approach for counselling and strategies to address social determinants of TB in three phases of project implementation from 2015 – 2023. Saksham integrated professional counsellors within the district TB services and provided ongoing, priority and home-based counselling to address Intersectionality of TB with social determinants -Stigma, Gender Mental Health and financial constraints concerns throughout the duration of the treatment.

Owing to the demonstrated impact of counselling on treatment adherence, the national TB Programme entrusted Saksham to develop a country level strategy for building capacities of Pan India NTEP staff on Counselling Soft Skills – unprecedent until then.

Saksham developed a Training Manual, which is ratified and approved by NTEP. The training is based on principles of andragogy and is experiential and participatory in nature. In a never seen and refreshing avatar the training sessions are entire PPT free and focus on developing perspectives and practicing skills. The training session focus on unlearning as much as learning and has in built spaces for reflection and introspection aimed at developing a patient centric and empathetic approach.

Saksham Jan Urja (January 2020 onwards)

Saksham Pravaah in collaboration with the Mumbai District TB Control Society undertook an initiative to meaningfully and gainfully engage TB survivors under the Saksham Jan Urja project. The project is funded by Tata Power Development Trust and was initiated in January 2020. The Survivors are termed. “Saksham (Against TB) Saathi” and undertake telephone counselling to address stigma, presenting a positive picture of TB treatment, debunking the myths around TB and emphasize the importance of treatment adherence. The model was presented to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
(MCGM) following which it was integrated with NTEP from November 2021 onwards
in Mumbai metro. Currently 24 Saksham Saathis are placed with the TB
Centres in Mumbai – again a first such initiative in MCGM.

II Saksham Pramaan- HIV Component

Saksham Pramaan (April 2021 - March 2027) is the HIV component of Saksham to support NACO for intervention evaluation and mid-term programmatic evaluation of the NACP. TISS has collaborated with five Regional Institutes for Capacity building for Evaluations (RICE) for Targeted Intervention and Link Workers Scheme Evaluations.

Another component of Saksham Pramaan is conducting programmatic evaluations of NACP. Pramaan has successfully completed two minor studies viz, ‘Revising Link Workers Scheme in India’ and ‘Assessing the Role of Care Support Centre in Providing Comprehensive Care to the PLHIVs in India.’ Pramaan has initiated three more studies and that are; ‘A study of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) at Different Service Delivery Models in India’, ‘Assessment of the HIV Counselling Services offered Under NACP, India’ and ‘Achieving the second ‘95’: Understanding the initiation of antiretroviral therapy and adherence among people living with HIV in India’. One more study titled, ‘Evaluation of National AIDS helpline 1097, in India’ is being approved however NACO response is awaited.

Click on the link to access detailed report about Saksham Pravaah

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10yVwx-ak4j_mTrs1xgp2Glue2F6Ol8mB/view?usp=sharing

https://linktr.ee/s...