Sister Veronicah Wanjiru of the Mbungoni Catholic clinic in Mombasa holds a notice on tuberculosis at a past event. Photo/ nation.co.ke
The number of tuberculosis cases in Mombasa County has gone up.
The county’s health department has already recorded 1500 new cases of persons affected by the disease since the beginning of the year.
Speaking during an interview with Baraka FM on Friday, Mombasa County TB and Leprosy co-coordinator Samson Kioko said the department has embarked on a two-week sensitization campaign in a bid to curb the increasing cases, adding that they are mainly targeting slum dwellers across the county.
“We have started a sensitization campaign to sweep the disease out targeting mainly the slum areas in Mombasa,” said Kioko as quoted by the daily.
Mlaleo in Kisauni and Port Reitz in Changamwe Sub-Counties are among areas with high number of TB victims, reports Baraka FM.
Kioko, however, noted that the health department has been facing several challenges in their campaign to kick out the diseases, including abuse of the medication and failure to complete doses.
“Sometimes we face challenges especially from those undergoing medication but at the same time abusing drugs. These people do not complete their doses,” he said.
On his part, Director of Health Mombasa County, Doctor Shem Pata, said 3600 TB cases were recorded in 2016.
Pata called upon residents to take advantage of the113 public health dispensaries scattered in different areas of the county to seek medical attention.
“I urge Mombasa residents to come out for screening in all our dispensaries in Mombasa,” said Pata.
Pata further said the fight against the disease has received a major boost following the acquisition of special equipment.
“There have been an improvement in technology and of late we have brought in a special machine known as a gene expert that is able to determine whether one is suffering from chronic TB,” the official added, as quoted by the daily.