Only 11 multi-drug resistant TB cases recorded thus far for 2019 -Guyana likely on course to not reach WHO’s projected 30 cases

Aug 20, 2019 News

Guyana is currently winning the battle against the multi-drug resistant [MDR] strain of tuberculosis [TB]. Well at least this is based on information contained in the recently released Mid-Year Report, which points to the fact that “while the incidence of this disease has been on the rise, the rate of increase is lower than that projected by the World Health Organisation [WHO].”
This development comes even as government, through the Ministry of Public Health, aims to sustain its efforts to combat existing and emerging threats to the nation’s health such as the MDR strain of TB.
According to the report, based on historical declaration, the WHO has projected that Guyana would see 30 cases of MDR-TB cases in Guyana this year. However, with more than half of the year gone, it is believed that Guyana is on track to dent the impact of MDR-TB with a mere 11 reported cases.
“There have been only 11 such cases revealed through screenings [and] government will continue to fight the disease,” the report stated.
The bacteria that cause TB, according to WHO, can develop resistance to the antimicrobial drugs used to cure the disease. MDR-TB, therefore, is TB that does not respond to at least Isoniazid and Rifampicin, the two most powerful anti-TB drugs.
“The two reasons why multi-drug resistance continues to emerge and spread are mismanagement of TB treatment and person-to-person transmission,” WHO has noted.
In order to sustain its laudable gains, government will be moving to sustain its gains through its Direct Observed Treatment Short [DOTS] programme. In the first half of 2019, the DOTS programme was bolstered by increased personnel, training of staff and the purchase of a new vehicle to facilitate the mobile unit outreaches, the report noted.
Usually, most people with TB are cured by a strictly followed, six-month drug regimen that is provided to patients with support and supervision.
But challenges towards the end of last year had threatened to undermine the gains made. This manifested in the form of a TB medication shortage, but the Ministry even then assured that there wasn’t cause for alarm since emergency measures were put in place.
The local TB programme is said to have made great strides in the programmatic management of MDR patients. This has been bolstered by Guyana’s implementation of the 10 WHO recommendations, which include increased screening in Guyana to identify all possible MDR, Manager of the National TB Programme, Dr. Jeetendra Mohanlall posited.
Other strides in the sector include improving the management of patients.
“With this accomplishment, there needs to be more dedicated resources in the DOTS programme to do daily visits to patients,” Dr. Mohanlall shared, pointing out that, “Even doctors attached to the TB Programme visit patients in their homes with the mobile teams that are established.”
He disclosed that TB patients generally have socio-economic challenges and they need psycho-social support in their management. To strengthen his position, the National TB Programme Manager has remained a strong advocate for the social protection of these patients, a tactic that is in line with the END TB Strategy.
Although Guyana is said to have 90 percent coverage of DOTS, there are still many challenges presented by defaulting patients, such as the homeless and the internal migrant population – miners and loggers.
In 2017, it was observed, too, that a fifth or 20 per cent of TB patients also habitually abuse drugs and alcohol. “These can be difficult to manage under the DOTS strategy and there are some who need to be in specialised care facilities such as TB Step Down Care Unit,” according to Dr. Mohanlall.
The TB Step Down Care Unit was commissioned in the first quarter of this year.
But even in the face of a number of challenges, government is boasting in the Mid-Year report that measures implemented have been yielding positive results which it anticipates will be retained.

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Only 11 multi-drug resistant TB cases recorded thus far for 2019 -Guyana likely on course to not reach WHO’s projected 30 cases

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Only 11 multi-drug resistant TB cases recorded thus far for 2019 -Guyana likely on course to not reach WHO’s projected 30 cases

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