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The Ministry of Health has urged Rwandans to undertake TB screening as soon as possible to obtain early treatment and reduce the risk of preventable death from the disease.
Officials were speaking in Kamonyi District, Rukomo area, on the occasion of the celebration of World Tuberculosis Day, celebrated on March 22nd.
Dr. Jeannine Condo, Director General of the Rwanda Biomedical Center, said that although much has been done, much remains to be done to reach the goal of reducing 90% of TB-related deaths by 80% of the new incidence of here 2035.
"We still have 20% of TB patients who do not go to the hospital for treatment and end up infecting others in their communities. We still have TB patients who are not taking their medications as prescribed and who are not recovering, "she said.
Dr. Jules Mugabo, representative of the World Health Organization, praised the government's efforts to eradicate TB, but added that it was also time to think about what could be done to achieve the goals set at global and national levels.
TB in children
"Further efforts are needed in the screening, testing and treatment of tuberculosis in children. The budget allocation needs to be increased to care for TB patients in order to eradicate it. In addition, more modern tuberculosis screening and screening machines need to be decentralized to health centers, "he said.
The World Health Organization will help the government implement these programs, he said.
Patrick Migambi, head of the Tuberculosis Division in Rwanda Biomedical Center, said that each year around 6,000 people were tested positive for TB and 99% of them started immediate treatment.
About 88% of people on treatment recover, while 8% die. Nearly 3% of them do not recover and undergo a new treatment, while 2% do not undergo any treatment.
The prevalence of tuberculosis is higher in children under 15 due to their weak immune system; it is also high among prisoners and the elderly, he said.
After two weeks of treatment, a TB patient stops being infectious, but that does not mean that someone has healed.
Jean d'Amour Uwimana, a resident of Kamonyi, was diagnosed with tuberculosis while he was a taxi driver in Kigali. He coughed for two weeks and after that he started having a high fever.
He looked for drugs in the pharmacies, but the situation worsened, he weakened day by day and he decided to return to Kamonyi because he could not work anymore.
"When I got home, my parents and neighbors told me that I had been poisoned, while others were telling me that I am using HIV in the village. I was too weak to go to the health center for a medical examination, "he said.
He weighed 40 kilograms, down 60. One day, a community health worker from his village examined him at his home and encouraged him to go to the hospital the next day.
"We went together to the Kamonyi Health Center and they first tested for HIV and the result was negative, then for tuberculosis. After two days, they called the ASC to tell him that the result was positive, "he said.
He said that he was taking his medication according to a prescription and that he is now cured.
"I am very grateful to the health workers who helped me during this difficult period, to the Government of Rwanda that made tuberculosis treatment available and free, as well as to the health workers who take care of tuberculosis. patients every day, "he said. .
"I would advise anyone with symptoms such as an extended cough to go to the hospital, you never know that it could be tuberculosis. It's dangerous, but the good news is that it's treatable, "he said.
Tuberculosis is the tenth leading cause of death in the world and, since 2011, is the leading cause of death for a single infectious agent ranked above HIV / AIDS.
Most of these deaths could be prevented by early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
The treatment success rate in the world is 82%.
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