TB Free Nepal Initiative is one of the major policy actions of National Strategic Plan to End Tuberculosis in Nepal (2021/22 – 2025/26). Currently, the initiative is implemented in 25 local levels. It is launched in December 2021 with a national orientation followed by the provincial orientations conducted in the month of April and May 2022. The initiative aims to develop local level ownership and accountability in accelerating TB response towards ending TB epidemic in Nepal.
NTCC organized a national review meeting in two events conducted on 09-10 June 2023 (Nepalgunj) and on 19-20 June 2023 (Hetauda). The objective of the meeting was to review the implementation progress of the interventions, identify the bottlenecks, issues and challenges faced during the implementation and explore the way forward. In addition to it, recommendations for the TB Free Implementation Guideline changes were also collected from the field level learnings by each local level. A total of 11 local levels from 3 provinces (Sudurpaschhchhim, Karnali and Lumbini Province) participated the meeting held at Nepalgunj while 14 local levels from 4 provinces (Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati and Gandaki) were the participants in the meeting held at Hetauda.
The 3 local levels (Walling Municipality, Syangja, Mechinagar Municipality, Jhapa and Tikapur Municipality, Kailali) were felicitated with the excellent performance in the first year of implementation of the initiative on World TB Day celebration, 24th March 2023. The certificate of excellence were awarded to the respective municipalities in the review meetings.