The CHS led and USAID funded Tuberculosis Accelerated Response and Care (TB ARC) activity alongside other partners supported the National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Lung Disease (NTLD) Program to commemorate World Tuberculosis Day 2015 in Siaya County.
Marked under the theme “Reach, Treat and Cure Everyone,” and slogan “Is that Cough TB? Get tested, Get cured!” the event brought together a wide array of government officials, county officials, partners and civil society organisations, patient groups and the media to create public awareness around the fact that TB still remains a major public health concern. The commemoration event was also graced by Mrs Sarah Obama, grandmother to US President Barack Obama and Ms Clariss Okello, Miss Tourism Siaya County who lent their voices to the fight against TB in Kenya.
Addressing the public on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Jackson Kioko, Head of Preventive and Promotive Services at the Ministry said,” TB is preventable, treatable and curable. The threat it poses in Kenya can only be overcome if everyone fulfils their mandate diligently and invests
in the fight against the epidemic.” He further called on all players to join hands in transforming the fight against TB and endeavour to get to Zero Infections, Zero Stigma and Zero Deaths.
In a speech read on his behalf during the event, Siaya Governor Hon Cornel Rasanga said, “Despite recent achievements, TB remains a serious public health challenge in Siaya County. With support from the national government and partners, we in Siaya have mounted an exceptional response to the epidemic but the war is far from over.”
“Today’s event provides an excellent platform for Siaya County to renew its commitment and resolve in the war against TB. I would like to assure the county that my government is doing all it can to make sure that the availability of essential prevention and treatment commodities is adequately addressed. Indeed with the devolution of Health services to the county, we now have ahead of us, the task of determining our needs, capacity and gaps and define strategic solutions,” he added.
In his remarks, Dr Enos Masini, head of the NTLD-Program further said that the NTLD-Program was cognizant of the fact that Kenya is currently failing to identify close to 20,000 TB cases annually.
“I therefore urge all of us, individually and at a community level, to intensify efforts in active case finding, treating and curing all TB cases among the Kenyan population as we accelerate the progress towards zero TB deaths, infections, suffering and stigma,” he said.
At the same event, the NTLD-Program and the National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP) officially launched the national Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) plan and unveiled the National IPT Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) that will equip health care workers to provide IPT for eligible clients across the country. Explaining how IPT works, Dr Christine Wambugu, TB/HIV Advisor at the NTLD Program said, “IPT is the treatment of latent (silent) TB infection to prevent progression to active TB using Isoniazid. IPT is given to people who do not have any symptoms of active TB and is given for six months, once in a lifetime to significantly reduce the risk of acquiring active TB.
The NTLD-Program recommends that IPT be given to vulnerable populations like People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) and children under the age of five years who have been exposed to TB, prisoners and health care workers. This reduces the risk of them developing active TB,“ she said.
World TB Day was originally created in 1982 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary since German scientist Dr Robert Koch presented his findings on the discovery of the tuberculosis bacilli and to raise awareness on TB. Today, World TB Day is commemorated to coalesce global efforts to find, treat and cure the three million and accelerate progress towards zero TB deaths, infections, suffering and stigma.
Through the USAID funded TB ARC activity, CHS supports the activities of the NTLD-Program through strategic TB program coordination efforts and stewardship, acceleration of evidence-based activities to scale-up new technologies, as well as the use of ICT for better TB data management and use. Read more about the TB ARC activity.