Lack of awareness aiding spread of TB in Butaleja
BUTALEJA: Health experts in Butaleja district have said there is need to create community awareness in the district in order to curb the spread of Tuberculosis [TB].
Dr. Siraji Kizito, the Butaleja district health officer, said many residents in the district are not aware TB and its danger.
“People think they can’t get TB. As long as we have HIV/AIDS, we also need to pay a lot of attention to TB,” he added.
He said health centres in the district receive an average of 24-30 new TB cases every month while 83 patients are undergoing TB treatment in the district.
“We want to create awareness about TB that has affected mainly men and women,” Dr. Kizito said during an interview on Saturday.
He said they also have a plan to start screening people in the district as well as tracing for TB contacts in the identified hotspots.
The Butaleja district health inspector, Henry Isongoli said some TB patients abandon drugs.
“We have a challenge of TB patients not completing drugs and they hide in the villages. They claim that they get tired of taking drugs and some of them take tablets for only three months instead of the recommended six months. This has increased the disease in the district,” Isongoli said.
Last year, The Uganda Stop TB Partnership Ltd Executive Director, Isiko Kawanguzi said: “We estimate that Uganda needs about US$ 47 million annually to carry out anti-TB activities. As of now, we have a funding gap of about US$ 15mln.”
Isiko said the goal to end TB in the country by 2030 also requires individual efforts.
“We have gone around the 14 TB regions across the country and have called on stakeholders to join the fight to end TB. It must be mainstreamed in whatever we do in order to end it,” he emphasised.
According to a recent study, carried out by World Health Organisation and Global Fund, in partnership with the Ministry of Health National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme and several partners, TB prevalence in Uganda stands at 253 per 100,000 people, compared to 159 per 100,000 in 2015.
Butaleja is hosting this year’s national World TB and Leprosy Day commemoration under the theme, “Yes, we can end TB” and that for leprosy, “United for dignity”.
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