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Monday, April 03, 2006
Oledan: Scourge
By Radzini Oledan
Spice Of Life
IT'S a time bomb waiting to explode. Two-thirds of Filipinos are suffering from tuberculosis and up to five million people are infected yearly.
The recent national tuberculosis prevalence survey showed that the disease kills 68 people daily, putting the country on the fourth rank for the number of cases of tuberculosis in the whole world and among the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia.
The social impact of the disease may be high considering the tremendous stigma attached to it.
Tuberculosis is killing more adults than any other infectious disease, mostly affecting people in the age group 15-54, considered to be the most productive section of the population.
An adult suffering from TB, for instance, loses three to four months of working time on average. The disease also affects 20-30 percent of the household's annual income
Tuberculosis is a highly infectious disease, transmitted much like the common cold, and people living in poverty are more susceptible than others.
Without immediate treatment, TB can mutate into a drug-resistant strain requiring more powerful, more toxic and more expensive medicines over a longer time period.
So far, health experts found patients to be resistant to all available drugs, although in some areas up to 60 percent of cases are resistant to the most common drug, isoniazid.
Apparently the tuberculosis control efforts did not have any significant impact in curtailing the disease where the perception of the disease is so skewed that some medical practitioners refer to anti tuberculosis drugs as "vitamins for the lungs."
Another factor was that the bulk of funding for tuberculosis in the early years was used to detect the disease rather than to ensure patients completed their course.
To counter this they has just announced a new strategy that emphasizes support for the Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course (DOTS) program, where patients are closely monitored to ensure completion of drug courses.
Over and above these efforts, there are perceptions that need to be changed.
Here in Davao, health authorities are not only into direct observation method for TB patients but are also conducting massive community based campaigns for the prevention, detection and monitoring of the disease
More than 50 percent of patients with tuberculosis-like symptoms do not seek medical help and part of the reason for this is the stigma attached to it. Tuberculosis is often viewed as a shameful and unclean disease. Even if patients do seek help, many do not realize that drugs are provided free of charge by government clinics.
It is also common for people with tuberculosis to pay for the same drugs from a private clinic in the belief they are somehow better or stronger than government drugs.
Such misconception leads a situation where patients fail to find the needed amount to complete the course of treatment.
Tuberculosis has become a scourge not because of the lack of medicines to cure the disease but due to inadequate information in the community level, which resulted to several misconceptions.
Only through an informed choice can the problem be resolved and prevented.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 3, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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