Mike Mwaniki
29 November 2007
Nairobi — Tuberculosis is soon to be declared a national disaster, the Ministry of Health has said. The move would enable patients suffering from TB, which kills about 70 people daily, to access quality treatment while the Government provides more funding to fight the disease, Dr Shanaaz Shariff, a senior deputy director of medical services, said Wednesday.
"The Health ministry has finalised a paper on the disease which is now awaiting Cabinet approval before TB is declared a national disaster," the official said.
Last year, the Health ministry reported about 115,234 cases of TB, which the World Health Organisation estimated to be just 50 per cent of the actual cases existing locally.
Experts estimate that the disease kills more than 25,000 people annually and warn that its re-emergence has compromised the fight against HIV and Aids.
Kenya is classified among the 22 countries with the highest number of TB cases in the world. Dr Shariff said delay in early diagnosis, poverty and congestion in poorly ventilated areas were some of the factors fuelling the spread of TB.
"Of the more than 115,000 cases in Kenya, an estimated four per cent has developed multi-drug resistance TB," the medic said.
This form of TB does not respond to treatment using first-line drugs and patients have to seek treatment in the private sector at a cost of about Sh1.4 million.
The medic said the Geneva-based Global Fund is to release a Sh1.17 billion grant to assist Kenya fight TB.
Dr Shariff was speaking during the presentation of 19 motorcycles worth Sh5 million to the ministry's National Leprosy and TB Control Programme in the Health ministry.
The donation was from the Centres of Disease Control (CDC)
Dr Joseph Odhiambo, the CDC TB coordinator, said his organisation would release Sh1.2 billion to fight the disease.
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