At Johnson & Johnson, we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. That’s why for more than 130 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the world’s largest and most broadly-based healthcare company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. We strive to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. We are blending our heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity.
For more than 70 years, Johnson & Johnson has been serving the healthcare needs of patients and consumers in India. The company today employs more than 3,500 people and is organized into three business segments: Consumer Healthcare, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals.
Johnson & Johnson is a committed partner to the Government of India in realizing its vision of a TB-free India by 2025 and has been working closely with the Government and other partners to take a holistic approach to ending TB. Efforts include:
Access to treatment: In 2015, Johnson & Johnson introduced bedaquiline, our antibiotic for pulmonary multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), in India. It was the first TB medicine with a novel mechanism of action to be introduced in the country in more than 40 years. To support the government’s efforts to build capacity for its introduction, the Company donated more than 22,000 courses of bedaquiline through a global donation program operated in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Now bedaquiline is available to nearly 140 countries including India at a not-for-profit price through Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility.
Case Detection and Testing: With the goal of enabling early diagnosis, the Company has supported state governments and NGOs to provide nearly 50,000 X-ray tests, 32,000 molecular tests, and 4,600 pre-evaluation tests and to build the capacity of eight culture and drug sensitivity testing labs. Approximately 7,600 TB cases and 1,000 DR-TB cases have been diagnosed through these interventions
Awareness Campaigns:
• Supported campaigns that involved 24,000 auto-rickshaws, 21,000 buses, 200 taxis, 56 trains, 6 radio stations, 112 theatre screens and 590 street plays across the cities of Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur Delhi and Patna.
• Supported the inclusion of TB messaging into a first-of-its-kind “edutainment” campaign in India, MTV Nishedh, aimed at raising awareness and reducing stigma around health issues among young people in India. The campaign reached more than 10 million Indians via MTV India, Colors Rishtey, and VOOT. The company is now supporting a new, digital miniseries called MTV Nishedh Alone Together, which focuses on how COVID-19 has impacted the lives of young people, including those suffering from TB. Episodes are streaming on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Capacity Building of Clinicians and Healthcare workers: Supported the training of more than 15,000 healthcare professionals across 13 high-burden states in clinical management of TB and MDR-TB
Nutrition Support: In order to improve nutritional status of TB/DR-TB patients, the Company supported programs have provided nutritional support to approximately 6,000 TB and MDR-TB patients across 6 states
Innovation: Launched the DR-TB Lifeline Quickfire Challenge to identify and fund innovative solutions for continuity of DR-TB care during COVID-19. Two of the five awardees were Indian NGOs.
Beyond this, the Company is accelerating TB research and development (R&D) to discover innovative next-generation treatments and other tools that will be needed to reach the global goal of ending TB. These efforts are part of a comprehensive 10-year TB initiative launched by Johnson & Johnson in September 2018. With a focus on treatment access, patient finding and R&D, the Company aims to help save 1.8 million lives and prevent 12 million infections globally over the next decade.
As the Nation gears to achieve the ambitious goal of eliminating TB by 2025, there has been an unparalleled contribution by the civil societies and NGOs in this endeavor.