| Communities in Karakalpakstan get ready to fight TB |
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| Tuesday, 23 December 2008 12:56 |
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On 27th June, 2006 the thematic
Working Group On Information And Education About Tuberculosis welcomed
a new member – the EU-UNDP supported Enhancement of Living Standards in
Karakalpakstan and Namangan region project. On that day the ELS project hosted
a meeting of the thematic working group on tuberculosis (TWG).
Representatives of the ELS project, the Global Fund against HIV/AIDS.
Tuberculosis and Malaria Project Implementation Unit, Medicins Sans
Frontiers, Project HOPE, the National TB Research Institute, the
Republican Institute of Health, the Republican DOTS Center, the Red
Crescent Society, USAID, the Centre for Social Research Tahlil, and the Centre "Expert Fikri" took part in the roundtable. The session was dedicated to the
study of perception and consequences of tuberculosis in 11 communities
in the districts of Karauzyak, Kegeily and Shumanay in Karakalpakstan.
These communities prioritized TB as the major issue affecting their
development. With the support of the ELS project, they are now engaged
in the rehabilitation of local health points. During the rehabilitation
work it became obvious that the communities would like to be more
involved in preventing and control a disease that creates many
socioeconomic problems besides affecting their health. To do this, the
ELS project invited the 11 communities to take part n a qualitative
research on the perception and consequences of TB. The communities involved in the
study were small rural communities also called auls in Karakalpakstan.
The interviewees were ordinary community members, ex-TB patients and
health care workers working in primary healthcare facilities. The study
shows that although TB is curable, people still perceived as a killer
disease. Also, people seemed to know very little about TB and what they
knew was often wrong. For example, the belief that TB was contracted by
sharing household utensils with TB patients, drinking cold water and
swimming in cold water seemed to be quite widespread. Some interviewees
believed that TB is a hereditary disease, which is not the case. The
findings of the study revealed that there is an urgent need for greater
awareness of TB and information on the strategies promoted by the
government and the World Health Organization to prevent and cure it.
One of the strategies is the Direct Observation Short Therapy which, if
rightly followed, has very high rates of success. The ELS, which promotes an area
based development approach to development problems, will support the
establishment of community based TB case detection and treatment
support system to improve access to good quality TB care in the
communities. The project will also help design community based TB
system in cooperation with representatives of communities, the primary
health care facilities and TB service providers. Interested partners
are invited to share practices and exchanger lessons learned with the
ELS project. For more information see: www.stoptb.org |
News and Events Communities in Karakalpakstan get ready to fight TB