Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Aids Health Care Foundation (AHF) aimed at curbing the mortality rate among residents co-infected with HIV and tuberculosis.
Under the project, affected patients will be able to undergo examinations of the urine and get rapid results as compared to saliva tests that are currently been undertaken.
According to the latest council minutes, the MoU signed with the international company will help the local authority detect TB in people living with HIV using World Health Organisation recommended standards.
Council said TB diagnosis in patients living with advanced HIV infection has been difficult especially in those who presented with clinical or extra pulmonary TB.
“This challenge is the reason why we have high cases of increased mortality due to late diagnosis in late presentation,” read the minutes.
The urine examination is of an advantage as test results are availed in less than an hour.
“The Director of Health Services recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aids Health Care Foundation (AHF) whose aim was to ensure that every person living with HIV got the best care,” read the minutes.
The Bulawayo death audit summary for the third quarter 2018 shows that of the 50 TB patients diagnosed, 38 percent died whilst extra pulmonary bacteriologically confirmed cases only had 16 percent death rate.
BCC said 36 percent of the patients had died within the first two months of TB treatment.
“Of those patients, 45 were HIV positive and the death audit summary confirmed that the sickly TB co-infected patients sought TB treatment late. It is hoped that early diagnosis of TB infection through urine examination would avert some of the TB deaths, hence the department wishes to participate in the study to improve the quality of life among the TB and HIV co-infected patients,” it said.
—@thamamoe
Online Reporter