04 May 2014

The Chairperson of TB/HIV coordinating committee of Serowe Sub-district, Mr Seako Ranko, has urged the people of Serowe and surrounding areas to welcome his committee at their households as they come to educate them about TB/HIV and other diseases.

Mr Ranko said this during the launch of Serowe TB/HIV coordinating committee at the Serowe bus rank recently. 

He said the committees was established in August 2012 to help the Ministry of Health curb TB and HIV in Botswana because research shows that there was correlation between TB and HIV. Because of lack of resources, Serowe Sub-district lagged behind while other districts responded on time.

He said despite the difficulties, a 40-member committee was constituted, consisting of representatives of government and the non-governmental organisations; and it would cover the surrounding villages of Moiyabana, Mmashoro and Paje.

The committee has since trained 50 dikgosana on matters pertaining to TB and HIV. It is expected that dikgosana would help advance the fight against TB and HIV in their villages.

Mr Ranko said his committee had also engaged bus and taxi drivers and got them screened for TB and other diseases because they transport the public.

The Regional Manager of ACHAP, Ms Elizabeth Moshi, said epidemiologic studies show that between 60 and 80 per cent of patients with active TB in Botswana were co-infected with HIV.

Ms Moshi said TB remained a common opportunistic infection and a major cause of mortality among AIDS patients in Botswana, with estimates suggesting that up to 40 per cent of all HIV deaths are ttributable to TB.

She said the Serowe Sub-district continued to experience an increasing number of TB cases over the years, with 306 cases recorded in 2012 and 330 last year. 

The co-infection rate is as high as 70 per cent, which leads to a high number of deaths in the district.

She urged the Serowe community to make use of the committee and support it in its attempt to bring the scourge of TB/HIV under control.

The chairperson for the Central District Council, Mr Lesego Raditanka thanked the committee for its proposed programme of work of educating the community about TB, HIV and other diseases.

Mr Raditanka said he was a living testimony because he was once admitted to Sekgoma Memorial Hospital for TB treatment. 

Before that, he used to think that smoking was great, only to learn later that it contributed to the malady of tuberculosis. 

He advised the residents to get tested regularly for such diseases. Ends