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Kenya: Kenya's Innovative Injectable-Free Regimen Transforming TB Care
Nigeria Health Watch, 21 August 2023
Augustus Omondi suffered a persistent cough and intense night sweats that lasted for almost one month in late 2018. However, it was the significant weight loss that alarmed him. He… Read more »
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South Africa: TB Contact Tracing Helps Save Lives - This Is How It Works in SA
spotlight, 16 August 2023
Globally an estimated 850 000 lives could be saved by 2035 if short-course tuberculosis (TB) preventive therapy is provided to people living with HIV and contacts of individuals… Read more »
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Africa: What's New in the TB Section of the 2023 WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines
WHO, 9 August 2023
The World Health Organization's (WHO's) 2023 Model Lists of Essential Medicines, published in July 2023, features key updates to the tuberculosis (TB) section. These complement… Read more »
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Africa: Treating TB Contacts 'Saves Money' - Study
SciDev.Net, 7 August 2023
Administering preventive tuberculosis (TB) treatment to contacts of infected people could significantly cut deaths, and save money, researchers say. Read more »
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Kenya: New Mode of Treating TB Without Injections
Nation, 30 June 2020
Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) will no longer be given injections after the government adopted an oral regimen that is effective for 18 months. Read more »
Kenya's Innovative Injectable-Free Regimen Transforming TB Care
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health challenge in Kenya, affecting around 120,000 people annually and ranking as the fifth leading cause of death, contributing to 3.2% of total deaths in 2020. The Ministry of Health estimates that the burden of TB is 426 cases per every 100,000 people, writes Joyce Chimbi for Nigeria Health Watch.
The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks Kenya among the 30 countries with a high TB burden, collectively accounting for more than 86 percent of global TB cases. Kenya is one of the 14 countries globally to have appeared in all three lists of high-burden countries for TB, TB/HIV co-infection, and Multi-Drug Resistance TB (MDR-TB).
The traditional treatment for TB requires patients to take daily injections, which can be inconvenient and painful. In 2020, Kenya introduced a new treatment regimen that is free of injections. This has made it easier for patients to adhere to their treatment and has led to improved outcomes. As a result of the new treatment regimen, Kenya has made significant progress in combating TB. The country has reduced new TB infections by approximately 32% and TB-related deaths by 44%.
Despite this progress, challenges persist, such as underdiagnosis of TB cases. About 40 percent of TB cases go undetected each year. Efforts are being made to address this through molecular testing, which is faster and more cost-effective, leading to accurate diagnoses and improved treatment approaches. The goal remains to eliminate TB as a public health threat in Kenya by 2035.
InFocus
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Turkana County is on high alert over fears of a surge in tuberculosis (TB) infections, which officials say could hit 2,500 cases in a year. The county has stepped up the war ... Read more »
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World TB Day on March 24th commemorates the day in 1882 when Professor Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had discovered the microbial cause of tuberculosis (TB), Mycoba Read more »
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for scaling up testing and treatment for viral hepatitis, warning that the disease could kill more people than malaria, tuberculosis, ... Read more »
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The new treatment comes at a time when the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, when protecting individuals with lowered immunity or with other diseases is crucial. The new ... Read more »
In cash-strapped rural health facilities where health providers lack even the most basic of items such as gloves, injectable-free drugs are a game-changer in TB prevention and treatment.
