For more than 2.6 million people across India, a persistent cough or fever is more than just a passing ailment—it’s a looming threat, a warning sign of a disease that claims thousands of lives each year. Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of India’s most pressing public health challenges, disproportionately affecting the country’s most vulnerable populations.

The government’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) has made notable progress, but critical gaps remain. Millions still go undiagnosed or do not complete treatment due to social stigma, lack of awareness, and weak frontline support. Frontline workers, responsible for over 22 diseases, are stretched thin, making it difficult to provide personalized care to TB patients

To address this, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), a leader in public health interventions, has developed Sangaati—a voice-based digital companion designed to enhance TB awareness and treatment adherence. By utilizing vernacular voice technology, Sangaati overcomes language and literacy barriers, ensuring critical TB-related information is accessible to the most vulnerable populations. With a validated knowledge base of over 3,000 questions from NTEP, Sangaati equips frontline workers, caregivers, and persons with TB (PwTB) with critical information to improve health outcomes. 

KHPT has piloted Sangaati in 17 districts, gathering user feedback and refine this voice-based digital companion. With a phased approach, gradually expanding to high-burden states, the goal is national integration, ensuring that the tool becomes a key component of India’s TB response strategy.  The app’s usability, impact on treatment adherence, and user engagement are being measured through longitudinal health outcomes such as improvement in adherence rate, TB literacy improvement, and user satisfaction resulting from reduced stigma and ultimately overcoming information asymmetry.

Founded in 2003, KHPT has tackled public health challenges among marginalised populations across India in areas like HIV/AIDS, TB, MNCH, Adolescent Health and Primary Health care with a focus on social determinants of health. Over two decades, it has expanded to 20 states, impacting over 15 million people through evidence-based and community-centric programs. Now, with Sangaati, KHPT is making its first foray into digital transformation, harnessing technology to accelerate and deepen the impact of its public health expertise, strong government collaborations, and a commitment to empowering and reaching the unreached communities. 

ACT For Health is now supporting KHPT to scale Sangaati by driving widespread adoption in Karnataka – which shoulders 3-4% of the national TB burden (80k-100k) -, generating robust evidence from its deployment, and rigorously testing its scalability for expansion into new languages and states. This partnership also marks a pivotal shift in KHPT’s journey—one that could open new pathways for integrating tech-driven public health solutions across its broader portfolio.

At ACT For Health, we are excited to support KHPT’s mission to empower patients, caregivers, and health workers to enhance TB prevention and treatment for India’s most underserved communities through a tech-enabled approach!