Nairobi - The WHO has revealed that Africa's TB crisis has its origin in HIV/AIDS, weak health systems and poverty.
Nairobi - The WHO has revealed that Africa's TB crisis has its origin in HIV/AIDS, weak health systems and poverty. Statistics show that, of the two million people who die from TB every year, 1.5 million are Africans.
Winfred Nzioka, a nurse at the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) clinic in the Kenyan slum, revealed that most of the patients who succumbed to TB were also infected with HIV. According to Nzioka, about two thirds of TB patients, under her care have HIV, which actually renders a blow to the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to TB."Tuberculosis is coming in as an opportunistic infection," she said. "Our patients with TB/HIV normally deteriorate very fast."
Joel Kangangi, head of the WHO's TB program in Kenya said, “ We are doing all we can to make sure drugs don't develop resistance." Kenya is really providing the thrust required to fight TB, by enabling free TB drugs in the region.
