Xavier Radio Ug News 24 7
The Department of Health in Mpumalanga has called on communities to take part in the tuberculosis(TB) screening programme taking place in clinics across the province.
Today marks World TB Day.
TB Manager at the department, Thoko Tsela, says more than 11 000 people in the province are diagnosed with TB, with more than 700 people infected dying each year.
Tsela says that according to research, one of the challenges is that some people do not show signs of having the disease at an early stage.
“It’s an airborne disease. If you get it through inhaling, you inhale it into your lungs and to the other parts of your body, so what the government is doing, or the Department of Health is doing, is to fight TB. Services for TB care are available in all our health care facilities, which will include screening for TB, investigating possible treatment, and supporting patients who are on treatment until they finish treatment,” she says.
Tsela says the government is also introducing new diagnostic tools, including urine tests. “Now TB can be tested in urine, can be tested in seals, we have got machines that are at the community level to test those that have no portrayal sign,” She adds.
Meanwhile, TB survivor Thembi Nkomo says she faced discrimination from her community during the time she was living with the disease.
“The challenges I faced at the time were the issue of transport because I was getting my treatment every day, so I needed to go to the clinic every day to get my injection. That was the challenge because we did not have any form of transport, so we had to pay someone to take me to the clinic and also the stigma and discrimination within communities, because when people see you getting thin, they think you have defaulted on medication.”
Video | Gift of the Givers backs the National Health Department in the End TB Campaign – Sidima Mfeku reports:
www.sabcnews.com, https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/1115642-2/
