Nairobi Kenya, 22 March 2013 -- As a build up to this year’s World TB Day (WTBD) Commemorations, the country took the opportunity to sensitize the public and the media fraternity on national issues related to the TB epidemic. This year’s national celebrations commemorated under the global theme “Stop TB in my lifetime” was held in Nairobi at a media briefing and a field event held at one of the informal settlements. Other events to mark the day were held at all provincial and district levels.

Gracing the media briefing session was the Japanese Ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency, Mr Toshihisa Takata. Also in attendance was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Mr Mark Bor; the WHO Country Representative, Dr Custodia Mandlhate; Director of Medical services in the Ministry of Public Health & Sanitation, Dr Shanaaz Sharif; representative’s development partners including; USAID, CDC, AMREF, the civil society and the community.

Message of the Japanese Ambassador to Kenya

In his remarks the Japanese Ambassador Mr Toshihisa Takata thanked the organizers of the WTBD for inviting him to brief on the roles of the development partners and Japan’s contribution. He recalled that the TB used to be called a ‘national disease’ in Japan and was the largest cause of death before World War II. He noted that, Japan takes pride in the fact that the Global Fund to fight AIDs, TB and Malaria is a product of Japan’s initiative in the year 2000, when the then Prime Minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori chose health in Africa as a main topic of that year’s G8 summit meeting held in Japan.

He appreciated JICA’s long history of cooperation with Kenya in the field of public health. He reiterated that TB is NOT just a public health challenge but also a development problem causing devastation among the most economically productive years.

Message of the WHO Country Representative

In her remarks, the WHO Country Representative, Dr Custodia Mandlhate expounded on the theme for the year, and noted that the disease is slowly Killing OUR PEOPLE. “We know the cause, we know the mode of transmission and the treatment is also known. Why are we not winning the war against TB?” asked Dr Custodia. 

The WR reported that Tuberculosis continued to pose a major public health challenge with huge new TB cases reported globally. 

The WR reiterated the main challenges compounding TB control included among others, the drug resistant TB, HIV/AIDS co-infections and the declining funding for TB control. She shared the good news that the country had made great strides in TB control by maintaining high case detection rates, treatment success rates and low death rates. WR was optimistic that this can be sustained and it’s possible to attain the MDG 6 target related to Tuberculosis.

Dr Custodia recalled that TB was declared an emergency by the African Health Ministers, in Maputo in 2005 and again by the African Union Heads of State and Government who called for Universal Access to AIDS, TB and Malaria services by 2010 in May 2006 in Abuja. “We definitely have to do much more to address this menace,” said Dr Custodia. 

Innovation towards strengthening the Health System is the way to go, as this starts from community level, the primary health care level to the referral level. Finally, the WR commended the Government of Kenya and its partners for its strong commitment in the fight against TB, and reiterated WHO’s support to the government of Kenya in its fight against TB and in achieving its health goals.

Message from the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Health & Sanitation

The PS, Mr Mark Bor informed all that this year's global theme “Stop TB in My Lifetime’ had been adapted locally as “Tuberculosis free Kenya” to embrace the global call towards eliminating TB by the year 2050. This was also in keeping with the annual slogan “Adequate and sustainable resources to stop TB in my life time”. He thanked all for joining the Kenyan community in commemorating the day and said their presence was a clear testimony of the commitment to the fight against tuberculosis in Kenya. “The year 2013 marks the second year of the two-year “Stop TB in my lifetime” campaign and is a time that many partners are calling for zero TB deaths, universal access to TB care, faster treatment, a quick, cheap test and eventually a world free of TB.” The PS went on to give a report on the country’s progress against TB. Kenya has witnessed a marginal 2% decline in TB cases. In 2012 Kenya registered 102,009 new cases of TB. This represent only about 85% of the true number of cases of TB that occurred leading to the fact that about, 15% of all TB were not detected and continue to infect
more people apart from causing untold suffering and death.

Among the notified TB cases in 2011, 87% were successfully treated with 4% deaths related to TB. Every effort therefore, must be made to reduce the high number of cases. The PS also noted that HIV testing amongst TB patients has progressively increased from 32% in 2005 to 94% in 2012.

This has made it possible for many lives to be saved as provision of Anti-Retro Viral therapy for TB patients has consistently increased to 74% in 2012 making deaths related to TB drop from 12% in 2003 to the current level of 4%. Kenya has adopted new technologies in TB diagnosis that are rapid and able to diagnose MDR TB. So far the country has more than 24 genexpert machines, which have significantly reduced the turnaround time for results from 8 weeks to 24 hours.

He thanked partners who assisted in this task and those who have promised to provide more to meet the increasing demand. Mr Bor thanked the partners most sincerely and in particular the US Government and its agencies (USAID and CDC), WHO, Global Fund, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Organization on Migrations (IOM) and Civil Society Organizations including AMREF, TB Action Group (TAG), Kenya Aids National Consortium Organization (KANCO), Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Management Science for Health (MSH), Family Health International (FHI), National Empowerment Network for People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK), Kenya Association for Prevention of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (KAPTLD), Maltessor among others for their commitment in supporting Kenya to fight TB.

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For further information, please contact:

World Health Organization, Kenya 4th floor ACK Garden House. 1st Ngong Avenue Off Bishop Rd. P.O. BOX 45335, 00100 (GPO); Nairobi, Kenya. Email: wrkenya [at] ke.afro.who.int (wrkenya[at]ke[dot]afro[dot]who[dot]int)

World TB Day: The day is commemorated every year on 24th March to mark the day a German scientist Dr Robert Koch in 1882 discovered the germs that causes Tuberculosis. This day reminds the whole world the suffering that TB continues to exert on its people despite the availability of effective treatment.