Mokokwe Beats TB Hands Down
Tuduetso Setsiba, Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone), June 8, 2006
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This article, which can be read more as a promotion for adherence more than an objective report, highlights one woman’s struggle to comply with treatment for her tuberculosis, in the face of her own fearfulness, the need to “wake up early to queue for medication at the clinic before she goes to work,” and a regimen of 14 pills a day. Her own determination, the support of her family, and efforts by her work to accommodate her treatment are lauded. Finally, the heroine is said to “[call] on other people diagnosed with TB to follow the doctor’s prescription to the letter.”
Botswana’s Directly Observed Therapy programs include follow-up visits with patients who do not appear at their clinic for treatment, counseling with the district health team to sensitize the population on the dangers of TB and the importance of adhering to treatment., and taking serious measures when patients repeatedly fail to adhere completely because of the danger of developing resistant cases.
As background, it is noted that TB cases have increased in Botswana because of its opportunistic association with HIV.
[See related story in previous post: Botswana HIV Treatment Adherence: A Success Story]