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Sierra Leone: Stigma is Still a Challenge for TB Patients
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Concord Times (Freetown)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Freetown
Ministry of health and sanitation is intensifying efforts to increase access to treatment for Tuberculosis (TB) patients but stigma, it conceded, was a major problem in the fight against the disease.
Programme Manager of National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Programme in Sierra Leone Dr. Foday Dafae said since 2004 the ministry has registered almost 30,000 new cases of TB.
This increase is seen as a success of efforts to get people into diagnosis and treatment centers.
"However, stigma is still a problem. Family members abandon their relatives who are admitted to our centers. We admit these people for them to be administered with the drugs regularly without any interval so that they can get better," Dr Dafae said.
He said it was quite unfortunate that their relatives could abandon them, as patients' morale is boosted whenever they see their family.
Alimamy Kroma, a Freetown resident who has been cured of TB, said when he was initially infected with the disease he was abandoned by his family but after sensitization of his family by doctors and caretakers against stigmatizing those affected by TB, he later felt the love of his family.
"I was disheartened by the treatment I received from my family members, even my wife, but I thank God that they were educated about the disease and their attitude towards me changed," he said.
Dr Dafae in commemoration of World Tuberculosis Day said Sierra Leone was celebrating the lives and stories of people affected by TB through an ongoing campaign called 'I Am Stopping TB'.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that is transmitted through the air, from person to person. It can be fatal but, through appropriate treatment, it is curable.
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Dr Dafae noted that if a person has constant coughing over a long period of time he or she should go for check up. The three weeks intensive treatment regimen can help save lives. He said the country has over 80 diagnosis centers and the treatment is free of charge.
"We have personnel who check on our clients in their homes, whenever they are absent from treatment," he said, which has contributed to a jump in the treatment's success rate, from 75% in 2004 to 87% in 2007.
He called on the public to educate themselves on the signs and symptoms of the disease, to know when to come in for diagnosis and to ensure that efforts to tackle the disease continue.
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