North Western Province successfully treated 84 percent of tuberculosis (TB) patients in 2018.
Provincial Permanent Secretary, Willies Mangimela said out of the 1,345 TB patients recorded at various health institutions, 1,099 were treated.
Mr Mangimela called on members of the community to have routine TB screening as a preventive measure as the TB bacteria is harbored by many people without them knowing.
Mr. Mangimela said government, with support from stakeholders, will continue to raise awareness of the disease because it is concerned that many people in the country continue to suffer from a preventable illness like TB.
The permanent secretary added that government, through the Ministry of Health remains committed to improving health care in the country by embarking on construction of six mini hospitals and 74 health posts in the province.
Mr. Mangimela said that as Zambia endeavors to achieve goal number three, “Ensure high healthy lives and promote well-being for all” of the sustainable development goals, it will ensure that no one is left behind.
He further called on every citizen to be ambassadors in raising community awareness in the fight against TB.
Mr. Mangimela said this in a speech read for him by his deputy Douglas Ngimbu during the commemoration of the world TB day held in Solwezi under the theme ‘ It is time…Kick out TB’.
It is said that the white man brought many diseases to the new world.In some cases these diseases killed off entire tribes of people.Peter Carlos Hinds.
How many of those cases had all their contacts traced? The basic of infectious disease epidemiology is to track all the contacts. So if all Zambians turned up at clinics asking to be tested for TB, will there be money left to do anything else? This fossilised health sector is not thinking straight. Chilufya needs to continue cleaning up.
Trace the contacts of TB patients and test them. That’s how TB has been controlled wherever it has. Not sending SMSs asking everyone to test for TB. It’s not cost-effective or feasible.