Overview
The department has a mission to generate evidence to optimize TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment adherence, and health system responsiveness through context-specific, evidence-based socio-behavioral interventions employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
Head of the Department:
Dr. Karikalan N, BSMS., MPH., Scientist 'D'
Email id :
karikalan[dot]n[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in
| Sr. No. | Name of the Staff | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr. Karikalan N | Scientist D |
| 2 | Mrs. Chandra Suresh | Principal Technical Officer |
| 3 | Ms. Mohana M | Sr. Technical Officer(1) |
| 4 | Mr. Senthil S | Sr. Technical Officer(1) |
| 5 | Dr. Balaji S | Technical Officer-C |
| 6 | Ms. Deepalakshmi A | Technical Officer-B |
| 7 | Ms. Dhanalakshmi A | Technical Officer-A |
| 8 | Dr. Manogaran C | Technical Officer-A |
| 9 | Ms. Pricilla Rebecca B | Technical Officer-A |
| 10 | Ms. Rani S | Technical Officer-A |
| 11 | Ms. Shobana P | Technical Assistant |
| 12 | Ms. Yasaswany S | Technical Assistant |
| 13 | Mr. Murugesan P | Sr. Technical Officer |
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Key areas of research
Psycho-social intervention’s to improve treatment uptake and adherence and completion.
Community driven intervention research to improve TB awareness and care seeking for TB
Studies on behavioural markers to measure TB adherence.
Nutritional Counselling and adherence support.
Research aimed at improving caregivers and frontline health workers responsiveness for TB patient care.
List of ongoing projects
An integrated psycho-social intervention to improve self-efficacy towards treatment uptake and infection prevention among patients and family caregivers – A multi-centered implementation research study.
Reducing pre-treatment loss to follow-up among individuals diagnosed with TB through behavioural nudging intervention - A multi-centric mixed methods implementation study.
Unmet needs and coping strategies of family caregivers of persons with TB– an exploratory mixed method study – an exploratory mixed method study.
An innovative approach for engaging student and women organizations to improve Tuberculosis case finding and treatment adherence: A step towards Tuberculosis elimination in Senapati District, Manipur.
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S A, S S, K N, et al. Breaking barriers for TB elimination: A novel community-led strategy revolutionizing tuberculosis case finding and treatment support in Senapati District Manipur-A quasi-experimental pre-post study protocol. PLoS One. 2025;20(7):e0326324. Published 2025 Jul 3. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0326324.
Ramraj, B., Nagarajan, K., Purakayastha, D. R., Madhukar, M., Kumar, M., Raj, N., Kumar, S., Unger, B. S., Rajamani, N., Bangar, S. D., Periyasamy, M., Choudhary, H., Santhoshkumar, Y., Kumar, R., Sahay, S., Gupta, N., & Padmapriyadarsini, C. (2025). Qualitative Study of Nutritional Support-Related Perceptions and Preferences Among Persons Affected by TB, Family Caregivers, and Healthcare Providers in India. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 10(4), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed10040114
Karikalan N, Ramesh PM, Viswanathan VK, Kaleshwari M, Suresh C, Murugesan P, Sellappan S, Dhanalakshmi A, Rani S, Stephen A, Priscilla B, Karthikeyan K, Padmapriyadarsini C, Federick A. Wings of Support (Udhavum Siragugal): a holistic psycho-social intervention for TB persons and caregivers in a tertiary care facility in Tamil Nadu, an implementation research approach. Tamil Nadu J Public Health Med Res. 2024;4(Special Edition)
Kuppusamy C, Rebecca P, Leslie J, Mariappan L, Ravi P, Jeevnathi, Nagarajan K, Bhaskar A, Angamuthu D. Imparting tuberculosis (TB) literacy using a youth-friendly puzzle game: a pilot quasi-experimental study, Tamil Nadu, 2022–2023. Tamil Nadu J Public Health Med Res. 2024;4(4)
Muniyandi M, Nagarajan K. Economic aspects of shortening the duration of tuberculosis treatment. Lancet Glob Health. 2024 Jun;12(6):e901–2. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00126-8. PMID: 38762291.
Muniyandi M, Nagarajan K, Mathiyazhagan K, Tyagi K, Rajsekar K, Padmapriyadarsini C. Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of Cy-Tb for LTBI in India: a comprehensive economic modeling analysis. Int Health. 2024; ihae048. doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihae048.
Giridharan P, Nagarajan K, Selvaraju S, Frederick A, Subbiah E, Mani S, Thiruvengadam K, Selvavinayagam TS, Padmapriyadarsini C, Tamil Nadu TB Prevalence Study Group. Estimating and explaining the differences in health care seeking by symptom burden among persons with presumptive tuberculosis: findings from a population-based tuberculosis prevalence survey in a high-burden setting in India. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024 Jul 19;11(8):ofae412.
Muniyandi M, Mathiyazhagan K, Karikalan N. Self-reported prevalence of tuberculosis: unveiling spatial representation in the districts of Tamil Nadu. Int Health. 2024 Oct 18; ihae072. doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihae072.
Prathiksha G, Selvaraju S, Thiruvengadam K, Frederick A, Murugesan H, Rajendran P, Nagarajan K, Kumar M, Krishnan R, Kumaran P, Selvavinayagam TS, Padmapriyadarsini C. Programmatic implications of a sub-national TB prevalence survey in India. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Jul 1;28(7):348–53. doi:10.5588/ijtld.23.0456. PMID: 38961546.
Gopalan N, Newtonraj A, Elizabeth LH, Shanmugam SK, Ranganathan UD, Muniyandi M, Ramraj B, Devaleenal B, Venkataraman A, Nagarajan K, Bethunaickan R, Narayanan MKS, Deka M, Selvaraju S, Santhanakrishnan R, Krishnan R, Chinnaiyan P, Palaniyandi K, Vetrivel U, Jeyakumar SM, Natarajan S, Mathur A. Current challenges and future development of India’s healthcare system towards tuberculosis-free India: research evidence and programmatic initiatives. BRICS Health J. 2024;1(1):35–58.
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Motivation training programme for the frontline workers of National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP).
Wings of Support (WOS) patient support group for patients and their caregivers on treatment at Tuberculosis treatment center in select districts of Tamil Nadu namely Chennai and Kancheepuram.
ICMR-NIRT, under the Nikshay Mitra initiative, mobilized CSR and individual donor support to provide nutritional, medical, and livelihood aid to TB patients across Tamil Nadu. With over ₹4.7 lakh raised, the program has already supported patients in Tiruvallur, Chennai, and Tuticorin, and aims to reach 500+ patients in 2024–25.
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