Multi-sector approach vital in ending TB

Robin Muchetu in Kwekwe

MILLIONS of people default in taking their Tuberculosis treatment every year despite the fact that it is a curable disease that is treated freely in Zimbabwe, a situation that has prompted organisations keen on ending TB by 2035 calling for a multi-sectorial approach to responding the disease, globally and nationally.

This was highlighted during a Kunda-Nqob’iTB (KN-TB) Media Orientation on TB Control where the National TB Programme (NTP) and the Union Zimbabwe Trust (UZT) are orienting media personnel on vital concepts around TB and its control to enable adequate reportage.

In a presentation, Ms Melody Mukundwi from Stop TB Partnership Zimbabwe, an organisation that was formed in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s National TB Programme said partnerships were an effective means of arresting TB in Zimbabwe.

“What is needed is a multi-sectorial approach in the response to TB and that is what we are doing in Zimbabwe. We want to engage a lot of partners so that we speak with one voice and archive one goal of ending TB by 2035. We also want to ensure that we as a country meet the Abuja Declaration resolution of dedicating 15 percent of the national budget to the health sector. If we put our heads together we can combat TB in Zimbabwe and the world over,” she said.

Ms Mukundwi said Stop TB Partnership in a bid to ensure they bring all people on board have engaged media personalities, business people, socialises, agriculture experts and TB survivors who are serving as TB champions and are working with community’s education people about the importance of TB screening and treatment.

She further said they also implored governments to be accountable for meeting targets agreed on in the various instruments that they sign up to, saying those commitments need to be adhered to.

The Stop TB Partnership is working with survivors of TB who have a national steering committee that are assisting in educating communities about the reality of TB and what they can do to help curb the spread and also encourage screening and treatment.

“We are working with these survivors as they go down into the communities and get information form the grassroots of what they know, what they require and so on and take it up to national level, that bottom up approach is very critical. Again these survivors have real experiences to share with their communities on their journey with TB,” she added.

Ms Mukundwi however said the media must dedicate more space to TB issues in order to improve knowledge around the disease and also that communities know that it is a curable disease that is treated for free in public sector facilities.

@NyembeziMu