26th March 2009. The Ministry of Health will strive to ensure that the fight against TB is intensified and that all leaders, stakeholder, communities, families and individuals are mobilized for this cause. This was stated by the Minister of Information and National Guidance Mrs Kabakumba Masiko during the World TB Day commemoration held in Masindi District under the national theme: I am stopping TB and Controlling HIV.

World TB Day, 24th of March is the day in 1882 on which Robert Koch discovered the organism that causes Tuberculosis. The overall aim of the commemoration is to raise awareness about the global TB epidemic and to prompt all people to intensify efforts to control the disease. Mrs Masiko who represented the Minister of Health at the function, also pledged political commitment to fight TB

TB is mainly a community and social problem and not simply a medical issue. She thus called upon all Ugandans to rise up and tackle the scourge to which partners can only help but not to lead fight.

Mrs Matsiko informed the people that full implementation of the CB-DOTS strategy was the only sure way to effectively fight TB. She pointed out the five components of strategy as: political commitment at all levels; accessible microscopy services; correct and timely treatment to all people with TB; timely availability of efficacious drugs; and standardized registers and reports to monitor the situation.

In all these, she added, community participation and involvement will be vital and must be harnessed by health workers and leaders at all levels. She called for full utilization of community structures like the Village Health Teams (VHTs) in order to attain community participation. 

Speaking on the same occasion, the e WHO Representative for Uganda Dr Joaquim Saweka urged the Ministry of Health to implement the STOP TB Strategy fully in order to curb the worsening TB situation in the country. 

According to Dr Saweka, full implementation of the STOP TB Strategy including systematic community mobilization should lead to a greater number of suspected TB cases going to health facilities for screening. “Improving access to good quality services will result in increased and prompt diagnosis of patients. We must endeavour to put every single patient on quality TB treatment and strive to minimize patient transfers, defaults and deaths, he added. 

Dr Saweka noted that Uganda is one of the nine African countries with high TB rates in the world and the country is ranked 15th out of the twenty-two TB high burden countries in the world. This poor ranking is due to the inability to identify cases as well as ensure successful completion of treatment which remain far below the set targets. Consequently, a large number of patients in Uganda either discontinue treatment, die, or are transferred during treatment or are simply not evaluated. “This situation is worrying, considering that TB was declared an emergency by the African Ministers of Health in Maputo in 2005” he said.

The TB case notification in Uganda has been increasing over years, particularly because of the high HIV prevalence in the country. The latest information available shows that over 43,146 TB cases were notified in Uganda in 2008 compared to 41,612 cases in 2007 but this however, is not satisfactory. 

Therefore, Dr Saweka strongly recommended rigorous implementation of the STOP TB Strategy, including universal coverage and appropriate implementation of DOTS and CBDOTS, to significantly improve case detection and treatment outcomes. This, he added, underscores the need to ensure that the standards of patient care are high in all health facilities. Satisfactory TB treatment outcomes can only be achieved through concerted efforts by government, health care providers, families and communities who must all be involved in the process leading to the diagnosis of the disease and successful treatment of the patients. 

On the emergence of Multi-drug resistant TB and Extensively-drug resistant TB Dr Saweka said that these forms of TB are principally a result of inadequate or poorly administered treatment to identified TB cases. He thus pointed out that preventing the emergence of drug resistant TB by providing quality TB care is crucial and urged the country to start management of MDR TB on a program basis as a matter of urgency. 

Concluding his remarks, Dr Saweka emphasized that the fight to control TB cannot be won by health care providers alone. “It must be a joint effort by health providers, leaders and the communities. Individuals, families and communities should mobilize to contribute to this effort” he stressed. 

He appealed to community and family members to help identify and encourage anyone who has a cough for more than two weeks to go for screening for TB. They should also encourage and support people living with AIDS to go for screening for TB. Above all, he said, “each one of us should ensure that those on TB treatment complete the full course which normally takes 6-8 months.” 

Dr Saweka pledged WHO’s support to the Ministry of Health and other partners in the fights against TB including conducting a prevalence survey to establish the magnitude of TB in the country.

For more information please contact

Benjamin Sensasi,

Health Information and Promotion Officer,

WHO Country Office

Tel 256-41-334400

Email: sensasib [at] ug.afro.who.int