GHANZI - The Ghanzi District is said to be the most tuberculosis afflicted district in the country.
The principal medical officer for Ghanzi District, Dr Kamayi Ntumba said the district has an average of 1 100 cases per 100 000 people while the national rate is an average of 506 cases per 100 000 population.
He said between 2006 and May 2010, they registered about 2 500 TB patients in the district. Dr Ntumba said they used to have an average a number of 350 patients on treatment per year, adding that the number may rise to 400 judging by the current trend.
He said they have about 25 multi drug resistant TB cases in the Ghanzi District. However, he said the patients who complete the TB treatment do respond well.
Dr Ntumba said the TB rate in the district is escalating as cases are now even detected in areas which were not known to be prone to TB like Grootlaagte.
I was surprised that recently we recorded eight TB cases in Grootlaagte settlement, he said. Areas that are mostly affected are DKar, Kacgae and Bere settlements.
Dr Ntumba said poor living conditions such as crowded families and nomadic lifestyles tend to contribute to high TB prevalence in the area. He also said the number of TB defaulters in the district is high.
The TB treatment, he said, is taken by the patients on a daily basis at the health centres and those staying at the farms do stop the treatment once they go back to the farms. Alcohol abuse and smoking, he said, also hamper the effectiveness of the treatment.
In 2008 our cure rate was 11 per cent and it has now risen to 56 per cent. The national rate should be 80 percent, according to the World Health Organisation. By 2012 we should have reached that target and we are adamant that we can since we are aiming at 70 per cent in 2011, he said.
On the treatment failure rate, Dr Ntumba said it is one percent.
Dr Ntumba said they do campaign to sensitise the public about issues related to TB, adding that they are also working with the organisations such as Kuru to intensify their TB education amongst different communities in the district.
Meanwhile, the Ghanzi Primary Hospital public relations officer, Ms Boingotlo Hengari said the TB situation in the district is a matter of concern, adding that even the TB ward staff members are now at great risk of contracting the disease. She said so far they have registered six staff members who have been affected and three are still on treatment. Ms Hengari said unlike other wards that have two doors, the hospital TB ward has only one door and therefore ventilation in the ward is poor, saying this could easily aid the spread of TB within the ward.
Recently we made some changes and provided fans to the ward in addition to other useful initiatives they had undertaken to obviate the possibility of the rapid spread of TB.
Ms Hengari said the Ministry of Health is aware of the situation and that funds to erect another door were disbursed towards the end of the financial year 2009/10, and due to time constraints they could not finish the tendering process before the end of the financial year leading to the funds being forfeited.
She said they are facing a challenge relating to language barrier during the implementation of their outreach programs. We used to have translators engaged by ACHAP to assist in outreach programs but their contracts ended in February 2010. We are now planning to engage full time translators, she said.BOPA