TB Drugs

Health workers fearful of drug-resistant TB

A health worker painted a distressful picture at the ANGAU outpatient, saying they have noted an increase in the number of the multidrug-resistant TB patients from the catchment area at Buimo.

Describing the situation as “scary”, he said they can only control MDR-TB if initial patients, who are on 6-month treatment, are on medication consecutively; no missing treatment, no running short of drugs.

Multidrug-resistant TB is more costly than TB, meaning the government will have to spend more.

TB drug designed for children launched in Kenya

The new pill is a combination of three drugs used to treat tuberculosis, mixed in the right dosage, and is fruit-flavoured to appeal to children.

Until now, the global TB Alliance says pills designed for adults have been split to get the dosage for children.

Every year, about a million children fall ill with TB, which is the world's deadliest infectious disease.

In 2014, an estimated 140,000 children died of TB, according to global figures from the World Health Organization (WHO).