Cases of tuberculosis have been on the rise during the Covid-19 period.
The rise has been attributed to some TB patients defaulting on taking drugs, while others do not undergo testing due to stigma associated with Covid-19.
This was revealed during Komesha TB programme meeting in Naivasha on Wednesday. Those in attendance included members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), the National TB programme and officials from nine counties.
KCCB technical adviser on TB issues Michael Macharia said Kenya was among 30 countries in the world that has a high TB burden
“The World Health Organization has set 2030 as the date in which all countries should have dealt with TB but as a country, we are doing poorly,” he said.
Macharia said that funding from Global Fund was on the decline although the Ministry of Health has increased its allocation towards fighting the disease.
He said the country reported 692 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis last year mainly because patients failed to take their drugs as advised.
Coordinator of TB and Leprosy activities in Siaya Mary Juma said between January 2018 and now, the county recorded 69 new cases of MDR-TB.
Agatha Wambugu, the KCCB programme officer, said they were working with nine counties in Western Kenya where TB prevalence was very high.
Under the initiative funded by USAID, she said they were working with faith-based and private hospitals to reach out to TB patients and offer them treatment.
“We are using the church to reach out to the people suffering from TB and we are asking the community to support them as many face stigma,” she said.
