The ARK Foundation in collaboration with Department of Health and Family Welfare/NHM, Government of Nagaland and in partnership with National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP), Kohima organized an awareness program on Tuberculosis (TB) at Government High School Botsa on Friday. The aim of the event was to enhance collective response to the disease.
Speaking at the program, Ketho Angami, President of ARK Foundation, highlighted the basic aspects of TB, their signs and symptoms and how it spreads from one person to another. He also apprised the participants on the prevention and treatment of TB.
Angami elaborated that TB is an infectious disease which kills lakhs of people across the country in a year and that it spread through the air thereby making it easy for the transmission within the community. It spreads when an infected person coughs, sneezes, shouts or sings that results in the microorganism to float in the air, and once inhaled, a healthy person may acquire active TB disease.
Shading light on the signs and symptoms, Angami spelt out the most common signs and symptoms which are coughing for more than two weeks, fever resulting in night sweats, loss of appetite resulting in unexplained weight loss.
Further, the ARK Foundation President stated that TB is curable and treatment is freely available at all the public hospitals. The treatment for pulmonary TB is usually for 6 months.
In continuation to the program the resource person also upon considering the wide misuse of illegal substance among the youth of today, shared on drug addiction as a social menace, one also urging the young generation of today to “Stay Away From Drug”. Angami warned the students about substance such as tobacco and nicotine products which are considered as “Gateway Drugs”. He advice students to be mindful of such substance, as it is the initial and entry point to other harder and harmful substance. In conclusion, he emphasized upon the slogan “Say No to Drugs”.
The program was chaired by KH Somoline who delivered the background of ARK Foundation, Kohima. ARK Foundation as an NGO has been playing a key role in responding to the epidemic of TB and Substance abuse since the past several years.
