The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Misdiagnosis and low case detection among children is hindering Tuberculosis treatment in Ntungamo district, according to health authorities. Children are a soft landing spot for Tuberculosis once exposed due to low immunity.
However, the challenge is worsened by misdiagnosis with most of the infected children being treated for cough and pneumonia as opposed to TB. Some children don’t get any treatment at all. Reports from Ntungamo District Health Department indicate that only forty percent of the suspected pediatric Tuberculosis cases have been diagnosed.
The district has got only three Genexpert TB testing machines. The machines are found at Kitwe Health center IV, Itojo hospital and another at the Catholic Church owned Rushooka health center III. Most of the private facilities where residents seek treatment and lower health units are unable to detect TB.
Joseline Magume a resident of Rwashamaire town council who is nursing a child with TB, says it took them long to establish that the child was suffering from TB. According to Magume, the lower health units concentrated on treating cough up to when a sample was taken to Itojo Hospital, which confirmed TB.
She says they suspect that the grandchild contracted the disease from her late mother who tested positive for TB and HIV . Robert Ochom, the TB Focal Person for Ntungamo district, says the biggest challenge is that residents tend to rush to private clinics and drug shops, which lack capacity to detect and treat TB.
Ochom says that the district is working towards ensuring that all TB cases are detected and treated. He says they are working in partnership with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation-EGPAF, the RHITES-SW Project funded by USAID and Catalyzing Pediatric Tuberculosis Innovation (CaPTB) in Uganda funded by UNITAID to fight TB.
The project seeks to facilitate increased TB testing through strengthening health worker’s diagnosis skills- Build the capacity of laboratories specimen handling and diagnosis, specimen referral system through hub riders- this is where samples that require the GeneXpert are taken from lower health facilities to health facilities with laboratories that have one.
Japeth Nyete is the Ntungamo District Health Educator. He says the district is working closely with communities to ensure that the challenge of pediatric TB is addressed. Nyete says that the absence of treatment and misdiagnosis leads to multi drug-resistant TB, which is life-threatening and costly to treat.
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Director Dr. Therestine Barigye, says have on several occasions received multidrug-resistant TB patients from the neighboring district.
He says USAID has been supporting them to take care of TB patients especially, children. Barigye says those discharged from the facility are also helped to complete their treat by a team that delivers drugs to their homes.
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