26 Mar 2018

 Botswana National Tuberculosis (TB) manager, Dr Goabaone Pono has articulated the need to have a multi-sectoral approach and collaborative effort towards tuberculosis in order for future generations to be free from the disease. 

 

During World TB day commemoration in Kanye on March 23 under the theme: Wanted Leaders for a TB Free World, You Can Make History, Dr Pono said it was every individual’s responsibility to ensure that TB does not kill as it is curable and controllable under treatment.

 

However, Dr Pono criticised some pastors who claim their healing powers can cure TB, thus denying patients treatment with assertions that they have healed them without authenticating from health professionals. 

 

She advised individuals to do some thorough tests with doctors to confirm their TB status as well as to get permission from them before leaving the treatment.

 

Dr Pono shared that anyone can get TB, adding that persons living with HIV/AIDS have a high risk of contracting the disease, thus urging HIV positive people to test for TB. 

 

She further encouraged home based custodians to always ensure that they sit with their patients in an open space and to allow air ventilation in their houses to prevent the possibilities of an infection, which may fuel the spread of TB. 

 

She said to fight TB, government is doing everything in its power to supress the disease through providing services for individuals who worked in the mines as well as their families.

 

She therefore encouraged TB patients to take their treatment as prescribed by health professionals, adding that they can never go wrong as there is sound evidence of people who were completely healed from the disease after adhering to treatment instructions. 

 

For her part, head of Kanye District Health Management Team, Ms Pontsho Keretetse said the purpose of the event was to sensitise the community and create awareness about TB, to ensure that they make a lead in controlling and stopping TB infections.

 

She said the event served to provide first-hand information on the risk of contracting the disease as well as spelling out its symptom.  

 

Ms Keretetse said TB should not be given a room to claim individual’s lives as it is curable.  

 

She also encouraged individuals to know their status, adding that early treatment helps stop the spread of TB.

 

She said the event also served as a remembrance of the loved ones the community has lost due to TB.

 

She said individuals should refuse to take the same path through being responsible with their treatment.

 

Ms Keretetse further pleaded with the community to help educate one another about TB, emphatically pointing that health institutions and the government cannot manage on their own without public support.

 

Nyorosi West’s Councillor, Katlego Pelekekae thanked authorities for hosting the commemoration in his zone of jurisdiction, noting that it was crucial as the area was experiencing an increase in the  rate of TB infection. 

 

He pleaded with the youth to work with home based caretakers to get the skills and knowledge from them. 

 

Research shows that Tuberculosis is curable and preventable; about one-third of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria, but are not yet ill and cannot transmit the disease. People infected with TB bacteria have a 10 per cent  lifetime risk of falling ill with TB.

 

However, TB bacteria dies very slowly, and so the drugs have to be taken for quite a long time. 

 

Even when a patient starts to feel better they can still have bacteria alive in their body. 

So the person needs to keep taking the TB treatment until all the bacteria is dead.  ENDS