ABOUT 12,520 persons with Tuberculosis (TB) were not initiated on treatment in 2021 with indications that males constitute the biggest number of these missed cases.
By Michael Gwarisa
Males mainly artisanal miners and others who are informally employed have always been hard to reach according to the National TB program owing to the nature of their work, which takes them from one place to another and in most cases, they give false identity documents to avoid being tracked.
The decline in the number of TB patients who were diagnosed and put on treatment has also been largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted movement and access to healthcare services.
Speaking at the at the launch of the Zimbabwe Multisectoral Accountability Framework for TB, Ministry of Health Director, Public Health, Dr Munyaradzi Dobbie said finding the missing 12.520 people with TB was on government’s priority list.
Despite notable milestones in TB program, the 2021 Global TB Report made findings that between 2015 and 2020, TB deaths increased by 36 percent compared to 2015 End TB Milestone targets. We were 8010 deaths in 2020 alone, which translates to a person dying every hour. About 30,000 new TB cases occur every year which translates to one person every minute.
“Despite the high occurrence of the new TB cases, the proportion of new TB cases diagnosed and started on treatment decreased from 72 percent in 2019 to 54 percent in 2020, thereby promoting ongoing TB transmission at community level,” said Dr Dobbie.
Currently, 84 percent of the TB patients were started on TB treatment are successfully treated despite programmatic cases in TB case findings.
Giving the National TB Program Overview, Dr Fungai Kavenga the Acting Director in the TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the decline in the number of people who accessed treatment was not peculiar to Zimbabwe as globally, only 54 percent TB received treatment in 2021, a decline from 72 percent in 2019 (Global TB Report, 2022).
“An estimated 12,520 TB cases were missed in 2021 Males bear the brunt of disease burden, particularly the economically productive 25 – 44-year age category. As you are aware, Zimbabwe was moved from the world’s top 30 list of countries heavily burdened by TB,” said Dr Kavenga.
He added that Children were also not spared from this anomaly as the proportion of children diagnosed with TB has been consistently low, ranging from 6 percent between 2015 and 2021, below the 15 percent recommended by WHO. The ratio of 0-4:5-14 is almost 1:1. He said many children with TB are missed, and most so younger ones 0-4. The NTP is pursuing plans to scale up innovative techniques to facilitate the diagnosis of TB in children.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is saddled with a double burden of TB/HIV and MDR-TB. HIV prevalence of 12, 9 percent (ZIMPHIA, 2020). HIV Prevalence: 11.8 percent (15-49 age group). Female 14.8 percent and Male 8.6 percent.
“There are still challenges affecting the National TB program (NTP) especially the issue of funding. There is a funding gap of 42 percent for our strategic plan and to date, only US$62 Million was available from the US$142 million required for TB control for the period 2021 to 2025.”
