Dimapur: Thirty-six villages under Nagaland’s Kohima district attained TB-free status in 2025, said Kohima district tuberculosis officer Chiben Kithan on Thursday.
Kithan spoke at a programme organised to mark Kohima district’s official joining of the national launch of the Joint Squad for Health (JOSH) campaign at the Kohima DC’s conference hall.
The programme felicitated these 36 villages to encourage them to sustain their status.
Kithan stated that JOSH is a newly introduced public health campaign and youth mobilisation movement launched by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
He said the nationwide initiative aims to actively involve young people in awareness generation, social mobilisation, and community engagement to combat TB.Highlighting the ongoing efforts to eradicate the disease, Kithan said free testing and nutritional support are key to combating the disease.
Under the Ni-kshay Mitra initiative, he said, the Nagaland government has adopted 40 TB patients, while the Naga Hospital Authority Kohima has adopted 30 patients to provide them with essential nutritional support.
Additionally, the Kohima District Planning & Development Board has opened a dedicated account to support TB patients.
Kithan urged the community to actively reduce stigma and discrimination against patients.
He pointed out that the primary hurdle in eliminating TB is the low turnout during screenings, appealing to local village councils to effectively mobilise people when free screening camps are conducted.
In his keynote address, Kohima ADC Ruopfukuotuo Noudi said many people are under the wrong impression that TB is a disease of the past.
He emphasised that since a significant number of individuals continue to suffer from it, the Government of India specifically launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan for total eradication.