adminPaidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
Government has set aside at least $4 million to fight Tuberculosis from the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and has since applied for re-allocation of the savings towards strengthening its response towards drug resistant TB, a senior Government official has said.
In an interview on the sidelines of the commissioning of new TB machines held in Harare yesterday, national TB programme manager in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Charles Sandy, said cases of drug resistance tuberculosis (DR-TB) continued to increase throughout the country.
He said there was need to strengthen the response in the public health delivery system.
“DR-TB cases continue to increase and to date we have recorded an excess 800 cases that are resistant to ordinary treatment of TB. This calls for more concerted efforts towards combating this new strain of TB, which is resistant to some TB treatments,” said Dr Sandy.
He said once the application for re-channelling of the resources was approved, Government looked forward to migrating from microscopy TB testing to using Gene Xpert machine, which was more effective in picking DR-TB.
While most institutions in the country are now using Gene Xpert machines, some still rely on microscopy testing.
Dr Sandy said Government was also looking forward to implementing the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s new treatment guidelines on TB, which involve using short-term regimens for treatment of the diseases.
Currently, DR-TB treatment takes up to 24 months but newer combinations recommended by WHO take 12 months.
He said Government was also looking forward to equipping all TB testing centres with digital x-ray systems that were not only efficient, but more accurate compared to the current system.
“We hope the Global Fund will make its decision in the next two or so months and once that is done we should be able to start implementing all these initiatives beginning of next year,” said Dr Sandy.
GFATM’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) chairperson for the TB programme, Mr Donald Tobaiwa, said the CCM had already approved the request by the national TB programme to re-channel resources towards strengthening of DR-TB.
Mr Tobaiwa said these funds were saved mainly through reduction of drug costs. He said DR-TB was viewed as scary and was still associated with high levels of stigma in both communities and the health delivery system, hence the need to strengthen national response efforts.
“The CCM subcommittee recently endorsed the proposal of the ministry for reallocation of a significant number of savings towards a major change in approach for the management of DR-TB,” he said. The CCM supports Government in its response efforts and comprises representatives from Government and the civil society.
Tuberculosis remains a major public health threat in Zimbabwe with an estimated 4 000 cases reported in Harare alone last year.
New strains of TB that are difficult to treat with ordinary drugs are also being reported throughout the country.
Online Reporter