24 Mar 2021

As Botswana joined the world in commemorating World Tuberculosis (TB) Day yesterday, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Edwin Dikoloti underscored the need for intensification of efforts to find missing undiagnosed TB cases.

He said this against the backdrop of a 2020 World Health Organisation report indicating that out of 3 100 TB cases recorded in Botswana, 2 700 were missed because they were undiagnosed.

Dr Dikoloti said despite the country’s implementation of the active case finding strategy and using gene-expert machines as the initial diagnosis for TB, evidence showed that cases still went undetected.

That, he said, posed an extra challenge in the fight against the disease as currently one out of two patients with drug resistant TB were those who had never had the disease before.

“This therefore, means that drug resistant TB is being transmitted in the community,” he stated.

Minister Dikoloti therefore urged members of the public to minimise transmission of TB by opening windows and seeking treatment early when showing signs and symptoms which included cough, night sweats, fever, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite as well as chest pains. 

Dr Dikoloti commended SADC ministers for their  commitment evidenced by  the  adoption of a declaration on TB in the mining sector in response to the high incidence of the disease among mine workers.

The declaration would guide regional collaborative efforts on tackling TB in the mining sector, he said.

He said through the regional effort, an Occupational Health Service Centre was established at Molepolole’s Boswelakoko Clinic where ex-miners were screened for TB and other lung diseases.

The minister explained that a special dispensation had been put in place to ensure that those affected and had worked in South African mines received compensation.

According to Dr Dikoloti, TB remained one of the world’s greatest health threats.

 Botswana was among 15 TB/HIV high burden countries in the world with 50 per cent of TB patients infected with HIV, he said.

This year’s World TB Day was held under the theme ‘ The Clock is Ticking, which indicates that the world is running out of time to act on the commitment made by global leaders at the 2018 United Nations high level meeting to end TB. ends