27 Mar 2023

The WHO office in Botswana registered 6 100 tuberculosis cases in 2021 but that might only be a tip of the iceberg.

This, according to Director of Botswana University of Maryland School of Medicine Health Initiative (BUMHI), Dr Botshelo Kgwaadira, was because most cases went undiagnosed owing to the fact people did not avail themselves to health authorities to test for the disease.

Dr Kgwaadira who was speaking at a recent TB awareness event here on TB, said as a result many patients with TB died without knowledge of their disease.

Consequently, their cause of death from TB was not documented as such. And he warned people to beware of the virulence of the disease.

“About 2 000 people died from TB in 2021,” he said, adding that made TB the most deadly infectious disease, as the number of mortalities from it surpassed even those from COVID-19 during the same year.

Most of the TB cases were people living with HIV/AIDS, children under five years, adults above 65 years, people who suffer from chronic illnesses such as sugar diabetes and cancer chemotherapy patients.

“Those infected at times also are health workers who assisted TB patients,” he said.

Dr Kgwaadira said Gaborone had the highest number of registered cases of TB, followed by Kweneng east which accounted for more than 25 per cent of cases and Ghanzi. He said the high numbers of asymptomatic patients presented the risk of spreading the disease if they did not take treatment, which the government provided free of charge to both citizens and non-citizens alike.

Dr Kgwaadira said statistics indicated that 60 per cent of TB cases were male, adding it was high among men because substance abuse was rife amongst them.

The type of jobs they tended to have, such as mining also predisposed them to the disease, he said.

Dr Kgwaadira urged the public to work hand in hand with health authorities to fight TB.

He also called on the business sector to investing toward the fight.

In her testimony, a TB survivor Ms Bajalasi Maila said she was diagnosed with the disease twice, the first instance not being an easy road as those around her stereotyped her.

That however did not discourage her, she said. “I advise anyone with TB or going through treatment to follow doctors’ orders, and to not give up no matter how hard it becomes, because at the end you will conquer the disease,” she said. Ends