TB Infection Control Workshop for Security Personnel Ends

Monday, December 4, 2006
A three-day workshop on development of TB infection control plan for security personnel ended yesterday at the Paradise Suites Hotel. The workshop, held from 28 to 30 November, was funded through the Global Fund-TB grant.

The workshop was organised by the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Programme (NLTP) for personnel of the armed forces, the police and the prison department.

The workshop discussed the needs assessment reports and came up with a comprehensive TB infection control plan in congregate settings. In his opening remarks on the occasion, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Welfare, said that research has shown that congregate settings, such as boarding schools, and correctional facilities, such as the prisons, have been recognised in several countries as high-risk settings for tuberculosis infection transmission.

"These settings have been described as reservoirs for TB, silently pumping the infection into the civilian or wider community through staff, boarding students, visitors and discharged prisoners," he said, adding that the health of such people is many ways connected to those outside.

He further said the rates in prisons, as in other congregate settings, are often higher than national rates as revealed by available data on the prevalence of TB in prisons worldwide.

For his part, Adama Jallow, programme manager, NLTP, said that successful tuberculosis control in a country requires effective TB control measures in such congregate settings. "These settings are often regarded as hot spots for the transmission of tuberculosis. The strength lies in the coordinated and collaborative efforts of all stakeholders," he said.

Mr Jallow added that "TB is a preventive disease but unfortunately, it has and still continues to claim the lives of millions every year worldwide".

"It is estimated that one third of the global population is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis and that each year, about nine million people develop active T|B, of whom about two million die," he said, noting that it is unfortunate that sub-Saharan Africa bears the "highest" burden of the TB scourge.

Speaking earlier, Dr Hatib Njie, former WHO Representative in Uganda, said the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been fueling the TB pandemic beyond all expectations, "with many countries showing 50% to 60% of new cases of TB being associated with HIV as latent TB changes to actual disease as immunity wanes". "It is estimated that one third of the world's population is infected with the tuberculosis bacterium and that 10% of these will actually develop the disease," he concluded.
Author: By Pa Modou Faal & Amie Jobe
Source: The Point
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