Malawi is winning the fight against Tuberculosis

James Mpunga National TB and Leprosy Elimination Programme Manager ,said Malawi is winning the fight against tuberculosis(TB).

Mpunga said that the country’s TB incidence rate is at 125 per 1000,000, which means in the past years, Malawi has reduced the incidence rate by 37 percent.

Malawi has reduced TB mortality rate by 49 percent when compared with 2015 statistics. Mpunga said.

In Lilongwe Thursday ahead of this year’s World TB Day which falls on March 24, Mpunga said Malawi has reached a 90 percent treatment success rate and thier want to go above that. This is a very good indicator for our country as we target to reach 97 percent by 2030

He also expressed worry over continued stigma and discrimination against TB patients in their communities.

The vices are among those that are pulling back the fight against the condition, which mainly affects the lungs and said.

Ishmeal Nyasulu, is a TB and HIV Technical Officer for the World eHalth Organisation can spread when a person with it coughs or sneezes”, Mpunga, stressed the need for Malawi to have a resilient health system that is able to respond to emergencies as they come and ensure that routine services continue.

Nyasulu added that as a country we have faced multiple emergencies of late, but these should not affect provision of routine services like TB treatment.

Covid pandemic is one of the emergencies that brought Malawi’s healthcare system to its knees which resulted in over 2,600 deaths from 89,535 cases that the country registered.

Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda is expected to be the guest of honour at World TB Day commemorations which will be held in Mulanje District.

Malawi is among seven countries expected to participate in large clinical trial of a TB vaccine candidate to evaluate if it can protect adolescent and adults from pulmonary TB.

On Tuesday the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) announced that a phase 3 clinical trial to assess the efficacy of the vaccine candidate is now underway.

First doses have been given in South Africa, where TB takes a heavy toll.

A statement that Gates MRI released said that at full capacity, the trial will include up to 20,000 participants, including people living with HIV, at up to 60 trial site in seven countries –South Africa,Zambia, Malawi ,Mozambique,Kenya ,Indonesia and Vietnam.

Source:Times