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India bears the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) globally with an annual incidence of 2.2 million new cases. About 2.6 million people live with HIV and 1.2million are TB-HIV co-infected. India has one of the highest multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) burden globally with ~70,000 cases annually. India’s highly successful TB programme has consistently achieved global targets at a national level but nevertheless, India continues to struggle with the world’s highest burden of TB.

Successfully addressing TB in India depends not only on dealing with the urgent issues of MDR-TB and TB-HIV co-infection, but also on a nationwide increase in awareness of TB, TB case detection and access to full treatment. It is in this context that a major civil society partnership initiative on ‘Providing Universal Access to Drug-Resistant TB Control Services and Strengthening Civil Society Involvement in TB Care and Control’ was envisaged, through which civil society would synergise the efforts against TB with the government, private sector and communities.

Based on the above need Project Axshya was initiated in 2010 with support from The Global Fund under Round 9. Axshya means ‘free from TB’ which is the ultimate goal of the project and the national TB programme.

Project Axshya is being implemented by The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) with support from The Global Fund since 2010. The project works to improve access to quality TB care and control through a partnership between government and civil society. It supports India’s Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) to expand its reach, visibility and effectiveness; by engaging community based providers to improve TB services, especially for women, children, marginalised, vulnerable and TB-HIV co-infected populations. Advocacy, communication and social mobilisation (ACSM) is a major focus.

The guiding principles of project Axshya are universal access to quality TB services, community participation in TB care and control, sustainable interventions and equitable distribution of project benefits with social and gender sensitivity. The project Axshya also aligns with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Stop TB strategy and supports India’s national TB control program to achieve the MDGs.

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