Monitor to track TB underway

23 Jun, 2017 - 00:06 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Catherine Murombedzi Health CorrespondentPILOT projects to have one-stop shop for HIV/TB are soon to open doors in Seke in Harare and in the border town of Beitbridge.

This was said by country director of The Union, Zimbabwe, Dr Christopher Zishiri in Kwekwe last week during a meeting organised by the National AIDS Council for Meaningful Involvement of People Living HIV (MIPA).

Dr Zishiri said TB was fatal in People Living HIV if not treated on time. “TB is fatal in People Living HIV if not treated on time. It is a major cause of death. We find that 80 percent of TB patients also test HIV positive.  This co-relation has to be taken seriously,” said Dr Zishiri.

“If 80 percent of our TB patients are HIV+, why not prioritise that,” he nudged our thinking. “Our organisation, The Union partners the Ministry of Health and Child Care in the TB field.  Dr Charles Sandy from the Ministry of Health heads the work we do in the country. The Union works in three African countries. We are in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo,” he added.

Dr Zishiri said his organisation brought expertise on TB and helped with resources in the national response to TB. He said drug resistant TB had been noted in Matabeleland South and Bulawayo.

In response to getting above the challenge of drug resistant TB every district hospital now has a GXpert machine. “Every district hospital now has a GXpert machine. This is a specialised machine which alerts in two hours if bacteria sent for tests is drug resistant,” said Dr Zishiri.

“Soon we will be able to monitor GXpert machine use from a centre. This tracker will notify that the machine at this district hospital is not working and it will be attended to in the shortest possible time. It will be possible again to see if a machine is under used and find out why,” he said.

With such emphasis placed on quality treatment of TB, drug resistant TB will be manageable. Dr Zishiri said Zimbabwe currently detects only eight percent of TB in children.  “We are currently detecting only eight percent of TB in children. It is recommended that we detect 15 percent so we are still below the mark,” said Dr Zishiri.

Dr Zishiri went on to say work on one-stop shop clinics was underway in two sites.  “We will have two sites for our TB/HIV pilot project in Seke in Mashonaland East and in Beitbridge. The programme will be a one-stop shop for treatment of the TB/HIV co-infection. After seeing how it fares in these two sites we then roll out to other sites nationally,” said Dr Zishiri.

Dr Zishiri lamented the length of drug resistant TB treatment and said this would be a thing of the past. “It takes two years to treat drug resistant TB.  This is lengthy leading to default. A patient takes tablets and is on injections too. Research shows drug resistant TB can be treated successfully in nine months with the new efficacious medications now available.

We as a country will also be using the shorter drug resistant regimens,” he said.  Dr Zishiri said by year-end TB patients would also be screened for diabetes mellitus.  “There appears to be a relationship between TB and diabetes in Zimbabwe.  So by year-end TB patients will be screened for diabetes mellitus too,” he said.

During a lung conference in Durban, South Africa in  December 2015, new child friendly TB medications were unveiled. The child friendly medications are syrups which are flavoured to be palatable to the little ones.

If TB is a challenge to detect in children and the country is to reach the recommended 15 percent detection then the new flavoured syrups are needed too like yesterday nationally.

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