Tuberculosis in Botswana
Staff Writer | Friday April 3, 2015 09:32
TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected.
The disease is curable and preventable.
Medical experts say∆ that one-third of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with disease and cannot transmit the disease.
In 2013, nine million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died from the disease. Generally, over 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and it is among the top five causes of death for women aged 15 to 44.
Botswana is known to have one of the world’s highest burdens of TB per capita, with a notification rate of 470 per 100,000. TB is one of the most common opportunistic infections in those infected with HIV, with 75 percent of TB patients being HIV positive.
The country’s response to TB has been influenced by both national commitment, as well as regional and international resolutions and targets for controlling TB. The country has also had strong support from development partners.
The Government of Botswana has made TB treatment accessible to all and also aims to control the spread of other associated infectious such as HIV/AIDS.
In recent years, the TB epidemic in Botswana has in fact been largely fuelled by the spread of HIV.
“This is why we have a deliberate TB/HIV policy framework, which guides the integration of TB/HIV treatment.
The message here is that the best way to not get infected is to remain HIV negative,” said Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisi at the recent World TB Day commemorations.
The government’s commitment to providing antiretroviral treatment has gone a long way in averting many opportunistic infections such as TB.
Successes have been scored. A United Nations report states that in 2000 Botswana was among 147 UN member states that committed to achieving a set of eight mutually reinforceable development goals by 2015. Among the health related issues, was Goal Six: ‘Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases including TB’.
In that respect, Botswana is one of the few countries in the region that has achieved the 2015 TB target, with the incidence, prevalence and mortality related to the disease on the decline.
However, the progress is no reason to be less vigilant. Government estimates indicate that nearly 10,000 people contract the disease every year.