14 Mar 2018

Assistant council secretary for Letlhakeng Sub-district, Mr Tumelo Seboko has urged the leadership at all levels to play a leading role in the fight against Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS.

Officiating at a TB/HIV community sensitisation day in Letlhakeng on Tuesday, Mr Seboko said leadership started at the household level where parents should urge family members to have a habit of testing for the two diseases.

He said the fact that the two diseases were non-discriminatory made it a challenge at all levels of society, and advised on the proper adherence to medication by patients under treatment.

Mr Seboko said Botswana was as affected as the rest of the world when it came to the two diseases, noting that statistics indicated that in 2016, 6 000 Batswana were diagnosed with TB. He added that 392 died while on treatment.

He said Kweneng West had 221 cases in the same year with Letlhakeng having 44 patients, and that in 2017 the cases increased to 226 in Kweneng West, 56 of them coming from Letlhakeng.

Mr Seboko also indicated that HIV/AIDS, which often went hand in hand with TB, was also high in the country despite numerous initiatives that were meant to frustrate them.

He encouraged the community, especially men who were often blamed for dragging their feet in testing to come forth and test.

He said government would not stop the fight against TB, HIV/AIDS until society was free of them, adding that it called for the involvement of the whole community.

For her part, the matron for Letlhakeng District Health Management Team, Ms Ruth Sebuso said the day was organised to create awareness on TB and HIV/AIDS in the area as the two were spreading in Kweneng West.

She said community sensitisation on the two diseases has been going on for years, and that such sensitisation was constantly needed to ensure the message builds up in the community.

She advised members of the community that health personnel could only go as far as providing free education on the dangers and the dos and don’ts of TB and HIV/AIDS, but that the onus was on individuals to take the final and vital step of testing and adhering to medication.

Ms Sebuso also said despite all the government efforts it was concerning that there were still people who were unaware of their statuses or those who still shied away from taking medication at health facilities.

Giving a testimony, a former TB patient, Mr Phenyo Ramodulape said that for the disease to be defeated, it needed strict adherence to medication and medical advice, and that lifestyles such as smoking and drinking would have to be abandoned.

He warned that while on treatment challenges such as fatigue and loss of appetite were a daily challenge, but implored patients not to succumb to them. He also advised that because TB and HIV/AIDS often went hand in hand, people should make it a habit of testing for both of them.

Mr Ramodulape also encouraged patients of the two diseases not to be ashamed of taking their medication at health facilities.

The day was commemorated under the theme: Together we can stop TB and eliminate Mother To Child HIV Transmission. Ends