By; Ben Musanje
It has been disclosed that in every 100 newly diagnosed Tuberculosis (TB) patients and 12 in every 100 previously treated TB patients are said to have Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).
This has been disclosed in the USAID Defeat TB Project breakfast meeting in Kampala by the Ministry of Health together with the National TB and Leprosy Programme(NTLP).
According to the MOH Assistant Commissioner for TB Department Dr. Stavia Turyatebwa, about 1900 MDR-TB cases exist and yet only 27% are detected due to inadequate funding and a weak health system.
She further says that the heaviest burden for Drug Resistant TB is estimated to be in Kampala with 311 DR-TB incident cases.
However, the Mulago National Referral Hospital Deputy Executive Director Dr. Doreen Male Birabwa assures the public that the epidemic will be no more by 2030 once costs and treatment duration are reduced with specific medicines provided to each patient to avoid intoxication.
The USAID Defeat TB Project is a five year USAID funded project from 2017 to 2022 that aim at ending the epidemic in Uganda through increasing TB case notification, detection and treatment outcomes under health systems.
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