Social Awareness

Cough was found to be the most important single symptom. It was not only the most frequent symptom alone or in combination in the experimental group but was less frequent in the control group that 69% of sputum positive and 46% of radiological positive had cough while only 9% of the control group had it. Considerably fewer people had fever and pain in the chest. Pain in the chest appears to be non-specific, giving a ratio of only 2:1 among the experimental and control groups, while fever was in the ratio of 6:1 and haemoptysis was 11:1. It was seen that 69% of the sputum positive cases, 52% of the X-ray active or probably active, 29% of the inactive and 15% of the normal (control group) showed the symptoms for TB. In all the groups, the proportion of symptoms was higher among males than among females. In both males and females the prevalence of symptoms was higher in the middle age groups than among the younger or older groups. This age variation was more marked in the females.

      TB was perceived by the health team to be a serious disease causing some patients to be reluctant to be associated with the TB control programme. Large number of project’s been undertaken with respect to health issues. Despite the project’s dedicated approach to case-holding volunteers expressed the need to develop skills in providing more comprehensive care. The volunteers appear to administer a more personalized service to TB patients and can bridge the gap between TB patients and the health agency. Sustained evaluation and support seem to be a vital tool in integrating a volunteer project into a health team approach. Its effectiveness appears to depend to a large degree on the people involved.