Health Minister Urges TB Patients To Comply With Treatment

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

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“Patients should comply with treatment because it causes multi-drug resistance yet the second phase of the treatment is expensive,” he said.

The minister was speaking during the event to commemorate the World TB day at Nyakuron Cultural Centre, Juba.

He urged the public to avoid stigmatizing the TB patients arguing that it hinders early diagnosis and treatment.

According to him, government funding to the fight against the disease is very negligible and that something has to be done about it.

He however reiterated the commitment of the government to fight the bacterial disease.

“On this occasion, on behalf of the government of South Sudan, I would like to reiterate our commitment to the fight against TB,” he announced.

Meanwhile the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Yata Lugor urged cattle keepers to stop drinking raw milk and that parents need to ensure that their children are vaccinated against the disease.

He says the disease which affects lungs, bones and muscles mainly affects the poor arguing that they sleep in crowded and dirty places.

Dr. Yata said that 267 people in every 130,000 in the country have the disease and that 96 out of 100,000 are diagnosed with 29 of them dying yearly.

According to Dr. Paul Tingwa, the Central Equatoria State Director General in the Ministry of Health, the disease has a relationship with HIV.

He called for the need to speed up the awareness and to ensure that the spread of HIV is reduced.

Dr. Tingwa further revealed that the state only has six health facilities that can diagnose the disease.

He further reiterated the need for patients to take the treatment saying that the country cannot afford to buy the second line drugs.

Partners including USAID, WHO and UNDP reiterated their commitment to help the country in the fight against the disease.
TB is the cause of death for nearly 1.5 million people each year mostly in developing countries. Tuberculosis (TB) is a lung disease that is caused by bacteria.

The symptoms include fever, bloody cough and fatigue.

World Tuberculosis Day is observed March 24 to “raise awareness about the burden of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide and the status of TB prevention and control efforts,” according to the World Health Organization.