Lodwar, 22 November 22, 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
The Turkana County health management team attended the inception meeting of the USAID TAMATISHA Tuberculosis (TB) Project, which aims to reduce TB-related mortalities and incidences.
The five-year project, implemented by the Centre for Health Solutions (CHS), is meant to accelerate progress toward achieving Kenya’s End TB targets.
Turkana County is among the top 10 high-TB-burden counties in Kenya, reporting the highest number of TB cases, drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), and pediatric TB cases, all above the national average. In 2023, the county recorded 3,445 new TB cases, 29% of which were pediatric cases, and 20 DR-TB cases.
County Executive for Health and Sanitation, Longale Wangiros, emphasized the need to address gaps in TB services, particularly considering the challenges posed by the nomadic lifestyle of Turkana’s population.
Chief Officer of Preventive and Promotive Services, Janerose Tioko, called for the integration of nutrition support and rehabilitation programs for alcoholics to reduce defaulter rates.
Assistant Director of Strategic Programs, Margaret Lokota, outlined the County TB Program’s focus areas, including defaulter tracing, enhanced uptake of TB Preventive Therapy (TPT), and strengthening the sample referral system.
A representative from CHS, Dr. Irungu Karuga, highlighted that Turkana was selected due to its high TB case notification rate of 345/100,000, significantly above the national average of 135/100,000, with new cases exceeding 1,500.
The project will employ several strategies to increase TB case detection. These include deploying advanced screening tools like computer-aided digital X-ray with Artificial Intelligence to enhance bacteriological confirmation, increasing community awareness, and engaging private sector partners.
“The project will also target high-risk populations, such as miners and school-going children, with specific interventions,” said Dr. Karuga.
The county is one of the 16 focus counties for the project. CHS will also collaborate closely with the National Government through the Ministry of Health’s National TB Program to support nationwide end TB efforts.
