After losing her beloved sister and husband to TB in 2018, Dorothy Christine Adongo vowed to help fight the disease with all her might. She began volunteering at the Bungoma County Referral hospital- TB clinic as a TB champion. Her work involved supporting the clinic’s most vulnerable populations mainly the street families, alcoholics, and long-distance truck drivers complete treatment through counseling.
When COVID-19 hit Kenya, and began spreading to rural areas, like Dorothy’s Bungoma County, located hundreds of miles from the capital, Nairobi, the pandemic created unprecedented health and economic challenges to the already struggling populations. Her clients visiting the clinic reduced drastically as a result of fear of being infected with COVID-19, isolated for being mistaken to have the disease since TB symptoms mimic those of COVID-19, and the national lockdown affecting the movement of people.
Despite the new obstacles brought by the pandemic, Dorothy decided to put an extra effort to ensure her clients access treatment. When they stopped coming to the facility, she began visiting them wherever they are to deliver medicines, collect sputum samples for treatment response monitoring and create awareness on prevention and treatment adherence, a task she continues to date.
Dorothy endures harsh working environment in her day-to-day work manoeuvring through the back streets, noisy bus parks and chaotic drinking dens to reach her clients, every day serving at least 10 clients per week voluntarily.
“The biggest challenge I encounter in my day-to-day work is locating the patient as most don’t have a permanent location to stay as well as they lack modern communication gadgets like phones. Some of the patients become hostile and verbally abusive. In-spite of this, I try to understand them and support them in the treatment journey,” Dorothy shares.
She sacrifices the little money from her business to support patients who can’t afford food.
Ali Mohamed, one of the TB patient living in the street was excited on seeing Dorothy when we accompanied her to deliver medicine to him. He had this to say.
“Dorothy is our hope, especially for us street families who are despised by many people. She is not only my doctor but also like my mother. She is helping me through this treatment journey by bringing me medicine and food when I don’t have. Through her I feel loved that is why this time round, I am almost completing my TB treatment. Previously I was a serial treatment defaulter as I have no time to go pick the drugs in facility.
Emmanuel Kimazia, a long distance truck driver and a TB patient shares, “COVID-19 pandemic has really hit us hard. Our nature of work requires us to move from one place to another and with the restrictions on movement by the government so as to contain the spread of COVID-19, I got delays in reaching my destination to go and pick my TB medicines. Dorothy has really assisted me as she is able to bring me medicine at my convenience. This has helped me adhere to treatment. I am now feeling better and more comfortable and confident as I go about my business.”
With support from USAID TB ARC II, Stop TB Partnership-Kenya has been able to capacity build TB champions like Dorothy to create TB awareness in their communities, support patients’ understanding of treatment, and conduct learning sessions in the community.
