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Today is World TB Day! This is a day we advocate for improved TB diagnostics, access to treatment and reduced stigma. This year, we are also drawing attention to COVID-19. India still has one of the highest TB prevalence globally. Additionally, according to the India TB Report 2019, India has 27,000 Multi-Drug Resistant cases. In response to the current prevalence of TB in India, the government has reiterated the ambitious target for eliminating TB by 2024, reflected in the National Strategic Plan. However, the current situation for TB diagnostics requires improved government action. A majority of TB patients are now choosing to access private treatment to avoid stigma. But only a proportion of cases of TB were handled correctly by the private sector, due to mis-diagnosis, diagnostic delay and treatment failure. Civil societies are calling for improved diagnostic capacity, improved treatment access and the filling of vacancies within the RNTCP. The theme for World TB Day 2020 is “It’s Time”. We believe it’s time to Test; it’s time to Talk; and it’s time to End Stigma. Unfortunately, given the current global pandemic of “coronavirus”, we were unable to run an event to celebrate World TB Day this year. This is why Blossom Trust and the Rainbow TB Forum are making COVID-19 a primary focus, publishing an COVID-19 infographic campaign on our social media, to ensure that the community is well informed and well equipped to deal with the outbreak. This is especially relevant today, due to the increased risk of severe infection for individuals with TB. COVID-19, or the ‘coronavirus’, is a new virus that causes a cough and fever, but can also cause respiratory failure. This makes it particularly severe for patients with TB, as well as individuals with health conditions such HIV who have a low immune system, diabetes or cancer. Elderly people are also more at risk. The virus spreads in droplets from infected people, on surfaces or by contact. This is why we must all take measures to protect ourselves and the people around us: everybody MUST wash their hands regularly, with soap, for 20 seconds, and NOT shake hands or touch other people. Everybody must also stay away from groups and crowds and minimise use of public transport, and stay at least 3 feet (1 meter) away from other people, in what is known as “social distancing”. It is essential that everybody takes these guidelines seriously to keep our communities safe. This period is unfamiliar for everyone, also for our Dayspring children, but we are taking the advice seriously at Blossom Trust and at Dayspring. The Blossom Trust office is closed until further notice. The schools have also closed, so the children are spending all their time at the Dayspring home until the situation changes. To ensure their safety, the gates are remaining closed so there is limited interaction with people living outside the home, and the people inside are asked to stay inside as much as possible. We hope by self-isolation, we can keep the children safe from COVID19 and prevent the infection with the virus. We are doing our best to follow the government advice, and we urge everybody to do the same. In this way we will be able to protect the most vulnerable individuals, including those suffering with active or latent TB, and keep our communities safe. Project duration: March 2020

On International Women’s Day 2020, we want to celebrate women and talk about the importance of empowering women and promoting gender equality at all levels. #EachforEqual International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the social, economic and cultural achievements across the world. It is also a day to challenge the bias and discrimination that women face in our own societies, and highlight the opportunities that exist to strengthen women leadership and equal share in our communities. Collectively, our actions, conversations, behaviour and mindset can impact society and create an equal world. Gender equality is a fundamental human right, but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful and prosperous world. This is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals, with SDG5 dedicated to Gender Equality, and equality strongly factoring into in SDG3 (Health and Wellbeing), SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities). By investing in women, we can achieve gains on the alleviation of poverty and sustainable economic growth at all levels. In India, considerable progress has been made towards women in leadership roles and more equitable treatment in society. However, there remains room for improvement. Across India, education is still not equally attained by women, with the literacy rates only 65% for women compared to 82% for men. This is reflective of women being perceived as the homemaker, and often forgoing education after marriage. The rates of individuals in work are half that for women as they are for men, at 25% compared to 53%. For those who do work, for the same occupation and with the same education, women earn only 63% on average compared to men, and fewer than 5% of businesses are owned by women. Moreover, these statistics are only partially representative: they do not illustrate the oppression, sexual abuse and marginalisation that many women still face in their day to day lives. At Blossom Trust, we are strongly invested in committing to the empowerment of local women. Primarily this is through community engagement and self-help groups. Our networks are women led, for women, by women. These self-help groups branch across TB, HIV/AIDs, microfinance and diabetes, giving women a support system and a platform for education and advocacy. They empower women to assume leadership roles, to support one another and strengthen their positions. Furthermore, our projects are always designed with women at the forefront. The crèche allows women and young mothers to be economically independent, and our recent project with Freedom Cups provided the education and materials for safe, hygienic and convenient menstrual management. We believe that by providing the support services and frameworks, we can build strong women led collectives in our community to empower a lasting change in attitudes and livelihoods. We also practice what we preach. As an organisation, Blossom also has numerous women who are not only dedicated to empowering the women in the local communities but also contribute to gender equality at the subnational, national and international levels. Our team is largely women run, from our Field Officer M. Muthulakshmi to the Director, Mercy Annapoorani. To mark the occasion, we attended a local college on March 8th, where our Director Mercy spoke to an audience of over 200 students about International Women’s Day. She spoke about how women should be given a voice, have equal representation and be given a platform to express their opinions. She also spoke about how women should be given equal opportunities to study and work, and be elected into leadership and decision-making roles. This was well received in our audience, with people greeting one-another with “Happy Women’s Day!” We then distributed flyers, written both in Tamil and English, and gave out pink ribbon to the girls as a sign of solidarity. Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive. Women empowerment is synonymous with development, with prosperity and growth. We hope that by continually raising awareness, speaking out and giving a voice to the voiceless, we will begin to see a change in attitudes and strengthen the women of India. #EachforEqual Project duration: March 8th, 2020

Blossom Trust hosted a Community Event for the transgender community around Chengalpattu. This event marked the launch of the TG Network, and was an opportunity for the community to gather together and celebrate. On 19th of February, Blossom Trust hosted the Transgender (TG) Community Event 2020. Transgender women, our Peer Advocates and friends and family from across several districts of Chengalpattu came together in Madurantakam hospital to participate in jovial dancing, singing, games and have lunch. It was a great event to allow the wider community to socialise as a diverse and integrated group. The event was hosted by Blossom Trust. In partnership with Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TNSACS) and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the Blossom team run the TG Targeted Intervention Project in the Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu district. Transgender women in Tamil Nadu face continuing discrimination and marginalisation in Indian society. Skilled TG individuals cannot find legitimate work without harassment, and so they are confined to the unorganised sector. This work involves street collections, street performance such as dance and singing, and sex work. This leaves them vulnerable to targeted violence and a high risk group for contracting and transmitting HIV/AIDs. The stigma of HIV often prevents the TG individuals from accessing testing, and prevents compliance with treatment in HIV+ individuals for fear of further discrimination. The Targeted Intervention project works with 7 TG Peer Educators to offer counselling, outreach work and HIV/AIDS testing and advice to the surrounding TG community. They also offer STI tests and sexual health education, including distributing condoms for protection against STIs. This event was a chance for the community and for the project coordinators to come together, to give recognition to the medical professionals that provide the STI/HIV testing and medical support to the project, and to pay respect to the community leaders and Peer Educators that galvanise the TG community and make the project possible. The event also marked the launch of the TG Network and the expansion to sub-national and national representation. This is to advocate for TG rights and move towards improved societal integration. This project will continue with the support of TNSACS, and in the near future we aim to provide vocational skills training to improve reintegration, to provide a safe house in Chennai, and offer legal support for official recognition of identity in the wake of the controversial Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill passed in 2019. The TG Community Event 2020 was a success, and we are thankful to all the individuals that made this event possible; particularly to the hospital and staff for hosting us, and to the TG community leaders and Peer Educators for bringing the community together. Event date: February 2020

This week we celebrated Pongal festival, the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu, to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. As Pongal festival is celebrated throughout the state of Tamil Nadu, all the children were home from school for the celebrations. Everybody took part in the cooking of the traditional pongal rice over the fire, which is allowed to overflow to represent the overflowing harvest of the season. The rice is then made sweet and fragrant with crushed jaggery sugar, cashews, coconut and cardamom. On the second day we celebrated the festival Mattu Pongal, in which everybody gives thanks to the cows for their contribution to the harvest. This was another fun day, in which the cow, the calf and all the goats were decorated with yellow-painted horns, red kungumam powder, tinsel and balloons. The animals looked great! The sweet pongal rice is then prepared again in the same way, but this time it is shared with the cows. The children had a wonderful time dancing, eating raw sugar cane, playing and painting colourful Pongal mandalas throughout Dayspring. Everyone enjoyed the celebrations, the traditions and the delicious food. Dayspring Home and the farm are looking forward to a plentiful year! To see more, take a look at our video of the occasion:

This past weekend, our Kancheepuram office has conducted its Health Camp 2020 at the Chengalpattu Government Medical College and Hospital for the Transgender community, to evaluate the long overdue ICTC & RMC. Dr. V. Sridhar, Assistant Professor of the Skin department, was invited as chief guest and along with him were three other training doctors. To start, the M&E Officer of Blossom Trust gave a welcome address and gave a brief orientation about Blossom Trust and the services we provide and asked the guests to light the ceremonial lamp. Next our Project Manager honored our guests with gifts, after which our M&E Officer gave an introduction speech about the purpose of the Health Camp 2020. This was followed by an awareness speech about HIV/STIs by Dr. V. Sridhar. After the speech one representative of the Peer Educators of Blossom came forward and asked questions on behalf of all Transgender community. Our Counselor rendered a speech about her role in the field of HIV/STI and asked the audience to go and take tests and medical checkups. Our M&E Officer concluded by giving a vote of thanks and the national anthem was played at the end of the program. The program came to an end by serving lunch for the gathering.

As 2019 comes to an end, we look back on another eventful year at Blossom. This year we went back to the main reason Blossom was started in 1993: women empowerment. In all our projects throughout the years gender equality and women empowerment stood at the center, and in 2019 we have put further emphasis on it. We try to achieve women empowerment and gender equality through health, social, economic and environmental initiatives. Let's look back on the activities of Blossom this last year. Health Did you know that tuberculosis belongs to the top ten causes of deaths worldwide? TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Each day, nearly 4500 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 54 million lives since the year 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42%. To accelerate the TB response in countries to reach targets – Heads of State came together and made strong commitments to end TB at the first-ever UN High Level Meeting in September 2018. India has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. In 2017 alone, there were 1.7 million new cases identified while 421,000 persons infected died the same year. According to WHO, 936,000 cases of TB went unreported in India. Blossom has done varies activities to address the stigma and discrimination that revolves around TB. In 2019 we observed World TB Day in March and World Lung Day in September and during the year we went into the community several times to raise awareness about the signs of TB and the treatment. We also addressed the screening and treatment of HIV/AIDS. During the year, several activities were organized in relation to this. One example of this is the meeting our director conducted in Kanchipuram District to increase HIV screening. Our transgender peer educators in Chennai focus on raising awareness of the risks of HIV/AIDS and provide assistance for screening and treatment. At Blossom we also focus on the general health of women and girls. In 2019 we addressed reproductive health with the help of Freedom Cups. This organization provided 300 menstruation cups to rural women. Together we went into the villages to educate women and girls on the use of the menstruation cup. Another health activity of this year was our observation of International Universal Health Coverage Day, during which we took to the streets to advocate for an inclusive healthcare system that pays special attention to women, girls and marginalized groups. Social Supported by the Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board in Chennai, we have been able to support women since 2003 with the use of a creche. Research has shown that child care is a major obstacle for women who try to work. Blossom provides daycare for children, to allow mothers to be able to work and gain control of their lives. Economic From beginning of 2005, Blossom worked within an Indian government program designed to create and empower Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The SHGs had leadership, training, bank accounts, and internal accounts. Close to 1200 SHGs were created, with 15-20 people, almost entirely women, per group. Blossom named this effort ‘Poomalai Women's Collective’, or garland of many blossoms. Many of these SHGs are still active today. Environment One of our running projects at Blossom is our Dayspring Farm. The farm aims to produce adequate vegetables, fruit, milk and eggs. This year the site has 2 cows, 4 goats and around 200 chickens. The agricultural side of the farm is booming with the cultivation of many varieties of fresh produce. These include okra, aubergine, corn, spinach, drumstick, mango, guava, banana, coconut and gooseberry. The vegetables in the farm are also often taken care of by the occasional volunteers that come to Dayspring. This broad spectrum of nutritious foods provides the children of Dayspring Home with a balanced and diverse diet, giving them a platform of education on a healthy lifestyle. From our Farm we sell organic plants in our office for very little money, as the neighborhood can then grow their own herbal plants and small vegetable plants, instead of buying them from the supermarket, teaching them about sustainability. Unfortunately, on the 13th April Dayspring had a fire. One staff member ended up with severe burns on his leg and the fire managed to burn through two sheds, the roof of the volunteers room, and burned some chickens as well as many trees. The cost in damages were in total INR 150,000, a high burden which we only could afford through donations. The new roof is composed of 3 major layers. This new structure will help prevent future fires from occurring! The first layer is made up of slabs, which is the main structure of the roof. The second layer is composed of palm leaves, which keeps the temperature of the rooms naturally cooler. Lastly, the major change was the iron sheet. This is important for the new shed as it will help prevent future fires from occurring. Dayspring Home Our children at Dayspring had another very successful year. All of them did very well during their exam period, which was at the end of the year. Every few months the hospital provides free medical check up for all the children. It is always a nice outing for the kids, as they get a very nice lunch at the hospital as well. We celebrated several holidays this years, including Diwali and Christmas, and went on several trip. One trip took us to the hill town Kodaikanal and at the end of the year we went to the beach at Rameswaram. We hope to have the same fun opportunities again in the coming year! In 2019, Blossom Trust and Dayspring Home welcomed thirteen volunteers, who took their hands on the Dayspring Farm, the Dayspring Home and spent time with our children, and supported us during different projects. We appreciate the work of our volunteers a lot and are happy to be welcoming the next volunteers already in the beginning of 2020. 2019 has been a good year and we cannot wait to see what 2020 will bring us! We hope you will continue this journey with us!

Christmas is a time for family to come together. At Dayspring we celebrated Christmas that way on December 25th and 26th. Our Christmas started with breakfast followed by a Christmas program. Part of this program was a sermon by our local priest, who also danced and sang with everyone. The children also had dances prepared, which day performed during the program. Thanks to a very successful fundraiser by one of our interns, the children were treated with Christmas gifts. The gifts were a mix of things the need and things they wanted. Backpacks were repaired or replaced and many of the children received new shoes. Other gifts they asked for were jewelry and watches. After the program finished, everyone enjoyed a nice lunch. It was truly a family affair, as some relatives of the children were able to join us. The celebrations were ended with cake and games. Want to see more of our Christmas celebration? Check out our video of the day:

On December 12 Blossom, together with Rainbow TB Forum, observed Universal Health Coverage Day. This years theme was for our leaders to ''Keep the Promise''. To ensure that our local leaders will put in the maximum effort to ensure healthcare for all, our EduClowns took to the streets to create awareness about the importance of an inclusive healthcare system. Background In India healthcare has greatly improved over the last decade. The state has put in many efforts to improve the access to healthcare, with one of the major achievements being a health insurance scheme. However, for many people, especially those living in rural areas, healthcare is still a luxury, instead of a right. There are not enough doctors and nurses and the inclusion of women and marginalized groups is still one of the major gaps. At Blossom we believe in a bottom-up approach; the voices of the community will encourage our leaders to take action on what is most needed. Without the involvement of the local level, there is a risk of creating a gap between the policies created by our leaders and the needs of the people. That is why for Universal Health Coverage Day we took to the streets of Virudhunagar for an awareness and signature campaign. And what would such a campaign be without our EduClowns? The voices of the community Over the course of two days we covered all 11 blocks of the Virudhunagar District to distribute flyers and allow people to sign our petition. We went through the district with our van, which was covered with messages about the importance of including marginalized groups and ensuring gender equality to achieve universal health coverage. To reach as many people as possible, our EduClowns went to the busy areas of each city/village, such as the market places, bus station and colleges. Observing Universal Health Coverage Day could not happen without visiting the places where this healthcare actually happens: the hospitals. Our EduClowns visited several hospitals in the district and spoke to nurses and health officers. All of them confirmed the importance of addressing the gaps in healthcare and signed our petition. The result This Universal Health Coverage Day we distributed 5000 flyers and collected 750 signatures from the people of Virudhunagar. Our presence was received positively by the locals, the healthcare providers and patients. The collected signatures were presented to the local Deputy Director of Health Services, who once again committed to putting his efforts towards an inclusive healthcare system in Virudhunagar. Project Duration: 2019

From November 13 to November 16, Blossom collaborated with Freedom Cups to provide women in rural India with a menstruation cups. Over the course of 4 days, we went into 8 different villages and to 1 school, providing 300 women with a menstruation cup. The monthly struggle Menstruation, even in the “developed world” is a topic that is not on the top of the conversation list. Menstrual period comes once a month, women buy tampons and pads, use them for a couple of days until the period is over and peace of mind is once again restored for another month. However, what is considered only a slight inconvenience in this scenario, looks very different in India. Approximately 30-40% of women in rural areas in South India use products that are not specifically designed for menstruation such as cloths. Sanitary pads are often too expensive, hard to get and not customized to women's needs in specific context. Moreover, women struggle with the disposal of these products, especially when they are outside of the house, where facilities are not made for the convenience of periods resulting in the majority of these products being buried or burned. And while sanitary pads can be found and bought in supermarkets and local stores in villages and cities, their price creates a substantial cost for the households restricting their daily living expenses. Not only the products used for menstruation, but being able to manage menstruation itself is an issue for women in South India. When experiencing a heavy flow or unexpected bleeding, there is a lack of possibilities to change or to dispose sanitary products due to a lack of public toilets women can use. Not being able to change period products regularly can be unhygienic and the cause of infection and various health issues. School girls are often forced to skip a whole day of education and stay home, if they are not able to access toilets and clean water to change their pads. This hinders school participation to the extent that more than 20% of all girls reaching puberty in India permanently drop out due to menstruation. On top of personal difficulties, menstruation remains a social taboo. In Hindu religion, which constitutes 93.84% of the Virudhunagar district population, it is strictly prohibited to enter temples or to attend religious festivals when you are on your period, limiting women’s freedom of daily practices. Furthermore, when talking about menstruation, women use the word “whisper” a popular brand name for sanitary pads frequently used in (south) India. The brand name itself shows how difficult it is to bring up and talk about menstruation in public, as it should be “whispered”. Women and girls are made to feel shamed, silenced and discouraged of being outside the house when on their period. This results in self stigmatization, which limits their freedom even more. Not being able to take ownership of their periods and bodies as something powerful and strong, we recognize that menstruation is still one of the resonating issues which prevents women and girls from taking steps forward in their life. Within Blossom Trust, our overall goal is to increase gender equality and women’s empowerment. Herein we saw the need to address menstruation obstacles and mentality, and we see it as our responsibility as a women-led organisation to lead this effort in our community. Why Freedom Cups? Freedom Cups is an organization that manufactures menstruation cups. A cup usually costs $30, but for every cup they sell they provide a cup to a woman who can’t afford it. By using a menstrual cup, women will not have to depend on buying disposable sanitary pads, or to use thick batches of cloth when menstruating. Managing their menstruation therefore becomes more safe, affordable and less worrisome. As a Freedom Cup can be inserted for up to 10 hours, especially school girls will have more freedom by not having to worry about leakage, which makes their menstruation easier to manage even when there are insufficient school toilets to change. As the cup can last for 10 years, it is a great substitute for women in rural areas, who often can’t afford to buy sanitation pads every month. 13-16th of November: taking the theory to a test! That there are several benefits to the use of a menstrual cup, is one thing. But how was the community going to react? As tampons are rarely used here, we were hesitant at first about the idea to provide women with a menstrual cup. Would they be interested in using it? Vanessa Paranjothy, the Co-founder of Freedom Cups, flew in with 300 Freedom Cups which we were going to distribute over the next few days. 2-3 meetings were set up each day, each attending about 30-40 women, in the nearby villages surrounding Virudhunagar. To test the acceptability of menstrual cups in this region, the amount of distributed cups was deliberately kept low. The first meeting was held in Chitumuundraipu, the home village of one of the women self-help group leaders of Blossom Trust. As we set up the venue, women one by one started coming in, curious of what the meeting was going to be about. Mercy Annapoorani, our Executive Director of Blossom Trust, took the lead of the meeting in Tamil. Before mentioning the menstrual cups, she spoke about the costs, the hassle of using cloth, and the difficulties women faced, all very relatable topics to women’s everyday life. But what if you could use one and the same product for 10 years? For many it was hard to believe there is a single material which can be used, which will set you free of cloth and sanitary pads. “It must be a joke!” some even said. And that’s where the menstrual cup came in. Hidden in the closed palm of her hand, Mercy raised her closed fist. “Something as discreet and small you can’t even see it’s in my hand'', she said. And by opening it, the menstrual cup appeared. After the information and education on how to use the cup, women were able to ask questions. Is it able to get stuck? Or can it accidentally come out during the day? Can I still pee? And what about allergies? All questions were dealt with respect and integrity. Afterwards, women who wanted to have a cup, where asked to come forward and were shown how to properly fold it for insertion, and were given a package with a menstrual cup, a discreet cotton bag, and a piece of soap to use the cup hygienically. The reactions The first meeting was a success!! Eagerly we continued, altogether reaching 8 villages and 1 school. Overall, the response at the meetings was exceeding our expectations tremendously. Every meeting we held, women and girls attended, listened and were interested in our cups. Women who did not want to receive a cup, were given only a soap bar to thank them for their attendance. We are proud of the results we have achieved, but the big test will only come after a couple of months. After an evaluation, we will be able to see how big the response of women actually using the cups is. We hope that some women, it can only be a few, will dare to try and use it, after which they will tell others about their experiences. What’s next? After our initial evaluation phase, which will take place 3 months from now, we aim to have more distributions in the surrounding villages, working together with our women self-help groups and collaborating with nearby schools. Project duration: 2019

Every year we celebrate Diwali at Dayspring in the biggest way possible. This year was no different! During the day we had some amazing food, which was donated by several donors and cooked for us by a cook. The children all received a gift package, which included candy and fireworks. During the day we danced, played games and ate lunch and our candy. Several of the donors came to visit us during the day to celebrate Diwali with us. The day was concluded with a fireworks show by the children themselves. They had a blast celebrating Diwali and are very grateful for all the donations they have gotten.

One of our volunteers, Aarushi, who stayed with us this summer, has written an open letter about her experience with us. Dear Adventure Seeker, To start, Dayspring Home is surrounded by lush green landscapes which is nestled among beautiful distant mountains. When I discovered that I was able to witness the beautiful sunrises and sunsets right on the rooftop of Dayspring Home, I especially felt connected to nature. The landscape made my volunteer experience more unique because I was able to experience peace, beauty and nature a few miles away from the city life. farm. To start, Dayspring Home is surrounded by lush green landscapes which are nestled among beautiful distant mountains. When I discovered that I was able to witness the beautiful sunrises and sunsets right on the rooftop of Dayspring Home, I especially felt connected to nature. The landscape made my volunteer experience more unique because I was able to experience peace, beauty and nature a few miles away from the city life. farm. However, saying that the location of the home is the best thing about Dayspring Home would be an understatement. There is so much more to my experience. For example, the children at the orphanage will win your heart over with their kindness, laughter and enthusiasm. The highlight of my day was to teach English and yoga to the children but it was not limited to that. Dayspring Home provides the children with shelter and basic necessities. In addition, they have an organic farm on its premises which provides the children and staff with wholesome foods like different vegetables and fruits. The farm also has a variety of animals. What stood out about the organization for me is that Blossom Trust stands behind community education and national coalitions for marginalized groups. The organization undertakes a variety of community based projects that range from child wellness, economic empowerment of women, environment focused agricultural and health advocacy. I hope this small letter inspires you to step out of your comfort and to find what empowers you. If you would also like to volunteer with this special organization, you can send an email to their Volunteer Coordinator at dayspringhome@gmail.com Sincerely, Aarushi

RTBF held social engagement meetings and awareness-raising activities for communities for two days to address the serious issue of TB in local communities. RTBF used an EduClown Campaign which uses performances to communicate, educate, and raise awareness about TB in an innovative way and related health issues to onward-looking spectators. During the hour-long community engagement sessions, 28 TB survivors from the blocks of Virudhunagar took part in addressing TB and its symptoms through retelling their own experiences with the disease. During the 2 days, 10,000 fliers were handed out providing a TB disease profile along with 5,000 pens commemorating World TB Day 2019 and our funding partner, Cepheid. The TB survivors and the 10 EduClown members were able to get 160 symptomatic persons registered with RTBF to ensure future diagnosis and successful treatment. India has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. In 2017 alone, there were 1.7 million new cases identified while 421,000 persons infected died the same year. World TB Day is held every year on March 24 to draw attention to the global epidemic of TB and its impacts on people who are burdened with the disease. RTBF held social engagement meetings and awareness-raising activities for communities for two days to address the serious issue of TB in local communities. RTBF used an EduClown Campaign which uses performances to communicate, educate, and raise awareness about TB in an innovative way and related health issues to onward-looking spectators. During the hour long community engagement sessions, 28 TB survivors from the blocks of Virudhunagar took part in addressing TB and its symptoms through retelling their own experiences with the disease. During the 2 days, 10,000 fliers were handed out providing a TB disease profile along with 5,000 pens commemorating World TB Day 2019 and our funding partner, Cepheid. The TB survivors and the 10 EduClown members were able to get 160 symptomatic persons registered with RTBF to ensure future diagnosis and successful treatment. Due to these constraints, it is not a surprise that a large portion of TB occurrence goes unnoticed. People are forced to ignore symptoms and quit treatment. According to WHO, 936,000 cases of TB went unreported in India. “It’s Time…”—the theme of this year’s World TB Day emphasized the urgency to act now against TB to reduce the level of stigma patients are facing. To create awareness in Virudhunagar District, RTBF started a petition to highlight just this gap in healthcare. Advocates and volunteers collected 1,629 signatures over the course of the program. The petition demands a decrease in discrimination in accessing healthcare for TB, a decrease in vacancies in key positions of diagnosis, such as lab technicians, and for the government to increase basic economic help for TB patients such as food assistance, health insurance, and subsidized public transportation. World TB Day 2019 banners will continue to be seen across the district. 10 banners have been left up to remind people of the importance of action. RTBF and Blossom Trust will continue to advocate for people in Tamil Nadu with the petition started during these 2 days. The petition will be forwarded to local political candidates to push TB to the forefront of debate in the national elections next month. Politicians and community leaders will hear and see the necessity of TB’s inclusion in future public policy. They will see the importance for TB patients’ rights. Project Duration: 2019