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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
A public health expert, Dr Emmanuel Ajumuka, has decried what he said were the attitudinal issues among positive cases of Tuberculosis in the management of the disease in Delta State.
Dr Ajumuka said confirmed cases do not adhere to medication, thereby exposing others to the disease.
He lamented the low enrollment rate, adding that the uptake of Tuberculosis Preventive Therapy (TPT) by those exposed to the disease in Delta is the poorest in Nigeria.
Dr. Ajumuka who is the Senior Programme Officer and State Team Lead of KNCV Nigeria, a non-governmental organization, made the observations in Asaba during a media training workshop on Tuberculosis.
The training which had various media representatives as participants, was organised in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health, Delta State Ministry of Health and USAID.
Ajumuka said about 47 persons are infected with Tuberculosis every hour, and that about seven of them are children, noting that most people were ignorant that children could contract the disease.
“The only way to diagnose a child is the stool sample because children cannot produce sputum which is the sample for adults.
“But in Delta, parents are not willing to produce the stool of their children for laboratory analysis, thinking that the stool is meant for rituals. And for every nine samples tested, we record at least one positive case of TB.
“Even when you diagnose the disease, the patient does not complete the medication which is for six months for those with active TB.
“When they manage to take it for two months and feel well, they abandon it, thinking that they are completely healed. But the risk is higher when it comes back, as it becomes drugs resistant.
“So we have this issue of enrollment and attitudinal issues in Delta State. There is treatment failure and loss of follow-up in the management of TB in Delta,” he said.
According to him, Delta has ten Gene Expert Machines for diagnosing TB, noting however that the machines were being underutilised because of inadequate presumptive cases.
Dr Ajumuka insisted that TB testing and treatment are free, urging residents with four cardinal symptoms of cough of more than two weeks, low fever, night sweat and unexplained weight loss to approach designated health facilities for screening.
Lamenting the poor knowledge about TB in Nigeria which currently stands at 27%, Ajumuka said Nigeria is number in terms of TB burden in Africa and number six in the world.
He urged the media to help disseminate accurate information about TB with a view to creating awareness in order to reduce or eliminate the disease in Delta State.
In her opening remark, Mrs Olajumoke Adebari who is the Assistant Director, Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilisation at the Federal Ministry of Health, highlighted the objectives of the workshop to include increasing media knowledge on TB and control efforts; building capacity on human-centred reporting; improving the quality of media reporting on TB; and strengthening linkages between the media and TB team.
On his part, the Director of Public Health, Delta State Ministry of Health, Dr Christian Tetsola, said the media has a major role to play in creating behavioural changes that would result in demand for healthcare.
“Tuberculosis is still here and we see high numbers that indicate its re-emergence; hence, we have decided to re-group and re-strategise. We must face it headlong.
“We need to create awareness that tuberculosis is a curable disease and if infected persons do not get treated, they will go on to infect others, especially those closest to them,” he added.
