18 Nov 2021

Stigma is one of the challenges that contributes to increased cases of Tuberculosis transmission, Ngami District Health Management Team registered nurse, Ms Mareledi Gababonwe has said.

Addressing a Botswana Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS workshop on Tuesday, Ms Gababonwe said that stigma associated with ignorance, myths and misconceptions about TB, resulted in patients’ failure to adhere to treatment.

She said TB was curable and  transmission of the disease is  lowered when patients adhered to treatment.

Ms Gababonwe stated that Ngami health district had many cases of TB with men mostly affected than women.

She said Botswana’s incident rate was 326 per 100 000 people while Ngami was at 205 per 100 000 people.

She said Ngami District registered 233 cases of TB in in 2017, 205, 220 and 171 cases in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Ms Gababonwe said that out of the registered numbers, 12 per cent of the patients died in 2017, five per cent in 2018, six per cent in 2019 and five per cent died in 2020.

She further said that there was a correlation between TB and HIV/AIDS as HIV weakened the immune system, therefore diseases such as TB were opportunistic diseases.

National AIDS and Health Promotion, programme officer, Ms Grace Banda said that it was important for community leaders to understand issues around TB disease in order to help minimise issues of stigma.

Ms Banda said TB patients who adhered to treatment were not likely to transmit the TB.

She said that TB patients would accept themselves if they were accepted by their famalies.

“TB is curable but we still have cases of TB related deaths which might be perpetuated by stigma,” she said.

One of the attendants, Kgosi Onneetse Mokenane of Maphane ward in Maun said that the workshop had empowered them a lot in demystifying stigma associated with TB.

Kgosi Mokenane observed that in the past people with TB were isolated and not allowed to share household utensils and even toilet with family members.

He said TB medication nowadays seemed to help in reducing  transmission rate. Ends