Government launches interactive video and web games to educate school children about tuberculosis

Even after so many years, tuberculosis remains a deadly disease which kills thousands very year. But even though it has a cure, most people are not aware that a cure exists.

So with an aim to educate students and the youth in general about the deadly disease, the government of India is now trying to teach them a thing or two in a medium they would enjoy best. So the government will raise awareness with games inspired by TV shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) and cricket.

Stop TB Quiz and Stop TB Cricket are the interactive games through which children wil get to know more about TB.These interactive games, which are endorsed by the Revised National TB control Programme (RNTCP), a programme that is run by the Government of India, have been distributed to private schools in the Capital. CDs have also been given to the State TB Control Office of Delhi for distribution.

"Overall 2,000 CDs have been distributed and more than 7.5 lakh games have been downloaded from the website. Approximately 20,000 children have benefited through the computer and web-based games," said Hilmi Quraishi, Director, Social Initiatives of ZMQ, who developed the TB games withu00a0 support from Lily MDR-TB partnership.

"There was a need for something which could be both educative as well as entertaining. Lectures were non- stimulating," said Sanjay Sachdeva, Director, Sachdeva Public School.

Stop TB Quiz is based on the KBC format and it has a bank of over 150 questions divided into three categories. The questions are simple and provide facts and factoids on TB and MDR TB. The user has to answer 10 questions to win the games.
Stop TB Cricket is to be played on computers using keys to bat to chase a set score after you have chosen your team. Each shot is followed by a slogan or factual information to reinforce learning and also counter popular myths and misconceptions about the disease. The two teams playing the game are named Safety XI and TB Germs XI.