Youth Against Tuberculosis

After some time he went to Kathmandu to graduate in Public Health. During his studies, he came to know that tuberculosis is a barometer of the prosperity of the society. After realizing that hundreds of people die every day from diseases that are normally preventable and treatable, he decided to work in the field of tuberculosis. But he didn't know much about working against tuberculosis. Because of this, he started a discussion among his friends.

About 6 years ago, he started a youth campaign for tuberculosis-free Bhaktapur. Local youth also joined the campaign. Gradually this campaign spread to other parts of the country. Over a thousand anti-tuberculosis programs were held at the community and school levels during two years. In such programs, he used to conduct youth interaction, school health programs, discussions with stakeholders of local bodies, and spread public awareness through social media. While the

campaign was underway, Kafle received an email from WHO headquarters in Geneva in February 2019. It was written, 'I will come to tell the story of mobilizing youth in Nepal in the program to celebrate World Tuberculosis Day.''

After arriving in Geneva, he managed to take the youth campaign against tuberculosis that he started to the world's health leaders. Since then, WHO has officially launched a campaign to mobilize youth against tuberculosis. And, this campaign was named 'WHO One Plus One Initiative'. With this campaign, the issue he raised officially became global. Currently, this campaign has reached the youth of more than 95 countries around the world. For the campaign, he has also reached Indonesia, Kenya, Switzerland, India and other countries.

Kafle started working as a youth consultant in WHO's World Tuberculosis Program from 2020. Since 2023, he has been working in Nepal to mobilize youth against tuberculosis. Lately, he has been running the '24/24 Youth Campaign to End TB' campaign. More than a thousand young people working in the health sector have joined the campaign. Kafle says that they are running a campaign to make them active against tuberculosis while developing the capacity of the youth. Under the campaign, 1,300 youths were given materials for self-study to the youth in the first phase, technical courses were conducted through the WHO platform in the second phase and virtual sessions were also made in the third phase.

In the fourth stage, experts from WHO Nepal Office and National Tuberculosis Control Center gave technical knowledge to the participants and gave them homework to meet people who can influence the society and talk about tuberculosis. Similarly, at least 40 children were given the task of going to schools in their communities to inform them about tuberculosis. In the beginning, the goal was to mobilize 1000 youth in Nepal, but more than 1700 applied. As part of the campaign, at least 55,000 students in more than 30 districts of all 7 provinces have been educated about tuberculosis. More than a thousand community leaders have also been informed. 24-year-old Sadiksha Sapkota is actively involved in the campaign along with

Kafle. While he was studying public health in the second year of La Grande International College in Pokhara, Kafle went to his college to inform about tuberculosis. After that program, Sapkota said that she joined the anti-tuberculosis campaign about 6 years ago. I was impressed to see young people like me doing the program. I joined the campaign thinking that I should work for the society," she said. Lately, she has been working with an organization called Nimat Nepal. Similarly, Shriya Joshi has also been raising her voice against tuberculosis for some time now. 23-year-old Joshi from Bajhang has graduated in Public Health from Purvanchal University. Joshi, who herself was infected with tuberculosis in the year 2071, later joined the campaign.

While conducting the campaign, Kafle says that no support was taken from anywhere other than the WHO Nepal Office and the National Tuberculosis Control Center. Although tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease, 17,000 people die every year in Nepal. It is estimated that 69,000 people are infected with tuberculosis every year in Nepal. Of these, 45 percent of patients have not yet been able to access treatment. "Young people who have studied health are targeted because they will later join health institutions in various fields," Kafle said.