World Tuberculosis Day: ‘We can end TB by 2030 with commitment’

 

 

Mrs Oyebamiji Abimbola is the monitoring and evaluation officer at the Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Centre at the Oyo State Hospital Management Board. She shared what the centre does and efforts put in place to end tuberculosis in Nigeria by 2030 in this interview with ADEREMI OGUNDARE.

 

HOW can you describe tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis and this affects mostly the lungs.

 

When was this centre established?

It has been a while. The national body was established in 1989 by the Nigerian government as a division under the department of public health of the Federal Ministry of health.

The mandate is to end tuberculosis in Nigeria, to reduce the burden through prevention, early diagnosis and through treatment of those who are effected.

 

What awareness has the centre created on tuberculosis?

We create awareness through radio programmes and jingles. We also have house-to-house active case search, where our volunteer community health workers move from one house to the other to educate people on the signs and symptoms of tuberculosis. With their permission they collect their sputum and bring it back to the office to test. They will go back to them with the results. If it is positive the health worker will bring them for counselling and treatment. 

The government has made it possible that the people can go on their own to any of the primary health care centres in Oyo State and get tested. If positive, they commence treatment immediately free of charge. 

In addition, community outreaches are organised regularly to visit different communities in all the local government area in Oyo State to educate and test the people. We have one to mark the World Tuberculosis Day which is 24th March. We are visiting some communities to educate them. During the outreach we have town criers that go around the town to inform the people on the signs and symptoms to look out for, and they also tell them where we are stationed so that they can come and be tested. We now have a portable digital x-ray machine, this help to detect people who may have the infection through chest x-ray. If it is positive, we still collect sputum to take to the laboratory for confirmation test to be sure that the person has the infection before the commencement of the treatment. We also go to the market place to inform people there.

 

What are the symptoms of tuberculosis? 

The common symptoms are: when cough persist after two weeks of taking medication, coughing out blood, fatigue, night sweat, chest pain, loss of appetite. Though these symptoms can also mean something else, but that is why it is important to do the test.

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Is tuberculosis curable?

Yes, tuberculosis is curable. The treatment is for six months and are in two phases.

First phase: the first two months is the intensive phase. The patient is given medication to take for two months. Thereafter, the patient will be tested to see if the treatment given is working for him or her. There is drug-susceptible TB and drug resistant TB. Drug-susceptible TB means the infection is being taken care of by the first line of drugs. But if it is not susceptible, it can resist the drug and that is when we say the person has resistant TB.

After taking the drugs, we check if the person still has TB or not. If it is negative, he will continue the drugs for the remaining four months.

The second phase is the continuation phase. If everything is the way it should be after the two month’s check, then the person will continue with the drugs given. 

After five months, we will check again. If negative, we will then wait six months to check again. If negative, the person is free from TB. But if at any point the result is positive, we will repeat the test; possibly the person is not responding to treatment. Probably there is resistance to the drugs. In such a situation, the medication will be changed to the second line of drugs. 

Another thing is that it helps us to know when some patients are not taking their drugs regularly. Patients get tired of taking their medications because of the long duration that they have to take them. That is why we give them appointment for every two weeks. When they come, the health worker will fill their drugs for them, ask for their challenges and encourage them to continue to take their drugs. This is because if one stops treatment in two months, the person will start again and the body might have built resistance for which they may take the new drug for a longer period.

 

What efforts are being put in place to end tuberculosis in Nigeria?

House-to-house active searching is done regularly. We go to the people we are not waiting for them to come to us. We talk to people one-on-one and even in groups to come to us; when they notice any of the symptoms we have mentioned, they should come to the hospital. When they get tested there is every possibility that we will be able to stop the spread of the disease. When someone contracts the disease, there is probability that within a year that the person will affect at least 20 people. So, we want to break the chain of the effect by getting people to get tested and treated on time.

There is also preventive therapy; there are drugs given to people who are in contact with anyone being treated for TB. This is to prevent the persons from being effected. If the husband has TB and being treated the wife and children will be placed on this therapy. So, it is important that whoever tested positive and placed on medications should not hide it from family and close friends he is always in contact with. This is so that they can be given the drug and not be effected by the bacteria. Provision of the portable digital x-ray machine which can be used on the spot to check the chest for TB.

 

What is the theme for this year? 

Commit, invest and deliver. We believe that we can end tuberculosis by 2030, if we are all committed as citizens of this country by being our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. If you notice someone has been coughing for a while encourage her to go to the hospital to get tested. Like our logo says ‘check am o’. If you see anyone coughing tell them, ‘check am o!’ just to be sure it is not TB. Investment is not about money alone. When you publish this interview, it is an investment to educate the public.