In 2005, ZMQ launched its program to create awareness on HIV/AIDS called Freedom HIV/AIDS. The program was very well taken by the communities, NGOs, governments and international bodies.
As we move on to the Freedom HIV/AIDS, we realised that there Is another disease which is linked to HIV/AIDS which is Tuberculosis. TB is an opportunistic infection (OI). OIs are infections that occur more often or are more severe in people with weakened immune systems than in people with healthy immune systems. HIV weakens the immune system, increasing the risk of TB in people with HIV. Infection with both HIV and TB is called HIV/TB coinfection. Latent TB is more likely to advance to TB disease in people with HIV than in people without HIV. As we found out that TB disease can also cause HIV to worsen. Medicines for the Treatment of HIV called antiretroviral therapy (ART), protects the immune system and prevents HIV infection from advancing to AIDS. Taking of ART medicine reduces the risk of TB infection in people with HIV. Also, ART reduces the chances that latent TB will advance to TB disease in people with HIV/TB co-infection.
So in 2008, ZMQ formally launched Freedom TB program. The initial phase of the FreedomTB program was supported by Ashoka and Microsoft. ZMQ’s pioneering initiative Freedom TB partnered with Delhi State TB Office – a nodal body of the NCR of Delhi for TB treatment. The program has been implemented in a private DOTS centre in rural Delhi.