Latest update April 6th, 2025 11:06 AM
Dec 25, 2013 News
Tuberculosis is one of the most deadly diseases, and the local Ministry of Health is calling on persons countrywide, especially those in the hinterland regions, to take their medication on time.
The ministry is also urging more persons to become a Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS) volunteer and help save lives.
“DOTS is one of the strategies we are using to assist persons in completing their TB treatment. The treatment is for six months and we find that persons need that extra support, so we have workers who are employed by Ministry Of Housing, going out and watching these
persons take their pills every day,” DOTS coordinator, Nicola Nero explained.
She said that the programme was first introduced in the city and today it has been successfully extended to all the regions, except , Eight and Nine, but volunteers are welcomed.
“We cannot do it alone. We are looking for community participation. We are embracing community models who are willing to make sure their relatives or villagers take their pills daily. We have a few volunteers and they are doing a great job,” the DOTS coordinator stressed.
There are currently 34 DOTS workers countrywide who are employed by the Ministry of Health and 11 supervisors.
According to Nero, the DOTS workers act as a body and assist TB patients a lot in successfully completing their treatment.
“These workers not only make sure patients take their pills, but they listen to them and make observations.”
Nero explained that getting patients to stay on their treatment is a challenge for DOTS workers.
“Six months is a long time and we have patients who are financially challenged and they have to keep their job. Some of them are miners and loggers and you find when they (patients) take their pills for two months and they feel good, they stop taking their medication.”
The DOTS coordinator is encouraging all patients to stay on their treatment, since TB is an infectious disease and it can pass on from one person to another.
“When a person is diagnosed with TB, the disease will pass on from one person to another but when you take your pills, it becomes non-infectious.”
TB is an infectious disease. It typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. TB is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.
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