malvernmugadzikwa
Sunday Mail Correspondent
THE Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) partnership comprising members from Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Sudan last week met in Bindura to address the pressing issue of how to control and manage neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Africa has about 20 NTDs and in Zimbabwe, the most common ones are bilharzia, intestinal worms, elephantiasis and blinding trachoma. They are caused by infection with pathogens, including worms, fungi bacteria, viruses or poisons such as snakebites.
The meeting in Bindura was a game changer as it was convened to give centre stage to people affected by the NTDs. Many times, scientists, policy makers, health professionals and other researchers speak on behalf of the affected and in so doing can relegate the affected to mere recipients of health services.
Amplifying the voice of the affected is part of the journey to let the affected speak not only about their experiences but also describe the change they want from healthcare systems, policy makers, researchers and other communities they interact with.
In a statement, TIBA said: “These diseases are preventable and can be treated successfully, if caught early. In some cases, regular treatment of these four diseases can kill the pathogens and reverse the disease. However, if left untreated, at a certain stage in the progression of the diseases, it becomes impossible to reverse the damage by treatment and further action such as surgery is required.
“Similar to other countries, Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has for a long time been offering free treatment to people affected by these four diseases once a year, through a programme called Mass Drug Administration. These yearly mass drug administration treatments have reduced levels of the diseases.”
Experts contend that without changing human behaviour, that includes consistent use of clean water and toilets, people will continue to be exposed to the pathogens and infection.
“Diseases such as bilharzia are caught through contact with infective stages of worms in river water, and soil. Being bitten by mosquitoes carrying the worms that cause elephantiasis can result in infections.
“Given these real-life challenges, it is important for people to be diagnosed and treated regularly. However, sometimes unforeseen challenges can disrupt these mass drug administration programmes,” the TIBA statement further says.
From March 2020 to the end of 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted treatment and this could have led to worsening of the disease and new infections could have occurred in people, especially children in Zimbabwe.
The focus in many countries currently is on how to accelerate prevention and control programmes to ensure that the post-Covid-19 accelerated infection is reduced.
An expert said there is an area of disease management that is currently not being prioritised.
“Another issue is how to care for people who are now suffering serious effects of these conditions and cannot be treated, such as those who have bladder cancer from bilharzia, disfigurement and blindness. In order to provide contextualised and grounded guidance and support to this group of people, it is necessary to hear their voices to understand their lived experience. In pursuit of amplifying their voices.”
During the meeting in Bindura, TIBA invited people suffering from these devastating conditions from Zimbabwe and Tanzania to hear their stories and discuss the way forward.
“It was attended by members of the Ministry of Health and Child Care from Shamva and Madziwa, scientists from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Sudan and Edinburgh who are working on these diseases and those from the Higherlife Foundation.
“The largest group participating were women, men and children from Zimbabwe and Tanzania who are affected by these conditions. Most of the affected people gave testimonies of what it is like to live with the conditions and highlighted the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives.”
The discussions highlighted several factors including: impact of living with these diseases is tremendous as daily challenges included not being able to sit on a chair for more than 30 minutes; making it difficult to walk or work in the fields; struggling to pass urine due to pain, infertility and the associated stigma of disfigurement and infertility.
Also, affected people indicated that they had never discussed their condition with other people facing similar afflictions, so they suffered in silence and isolation.
Further, a large number of patients did not know how to care of the conditions such as washing and moisturising inflamed areas or even that it was possible to have surgery for reproductive organs enlarged by elephantiasis.
Online Reporter