More than 30 health workers and trained community volunteers marked the World TB Day last Friday in Kerema by conducting TB awareness along the roadside communities of Gulf Province.
TB officer Akita Korua says the purpose of the awareness was to educate the people on TB, a curable disease that can be treated with medication if patients are faithful and complete their medication within 6 - 8 months.
The World TB Day event was launched in Kerema town on Friday with the theme for this year, ‘Leave no one behind’, a call to everyone to take ownership of initiatives to stop TB in Gulf Province.
Provincial Disease Control Officer, Elvis Pyrikah, who led the initiative together with the TB officers, reiterated that TB is a curable disease but yet, so many people are dying from it because they are not getting treatment at the clinics.
He highlighted the need for more awareness in the communities because TB cases continue to increase, affecting families, especially children.
Gulf Province is among four provinces in the country declared as a TB emergency province by the Health Department in 2014 after cases of drug resistant TB was found.
The Health Department has partnered with Medical Sans Frontiers to address the TB emergency in the province and has made in-roads in establishing a TB facility and conducting training for most of its staff as the TB fight continues.
(Picture: Al Jazeera)