What

With funding from the Global Fund for tuberculosis prevention and treatment work, Ny Tanintsika is assuring the training and monitoring of tuberculosis health educators.

Why

Tuberculosis is an infection endemic to Madagascar. For every 100,000 people, 113 are infected (Express, 25/02/05), and there are 10,000 new cases annually. At present the rate of success of treatment is 66%, however 20% of sufferers who receive treatment do not complete the 8 month course of treatment necessary to cure the infection. Madagascar’s national objectives are to increase the cure rate to 85% and to decrease the number of sufferers not completing treatment to 10%. Tuberculosis affects mainly young adults, in other words the working population of Madagascar; it therefore has serious socio-economic consequences. There is a lack of understanding among communities of the causes and dangers of the disease and often a sense of shame among sufferers. Ny Tanintsika is working at the community level to raise awareness and change people’s attitudes.  

Results

The project started in April 2005 and there have been significant results. 139 community health educators have been trained in tuberculosis prevention in 7 rural areas. Their role is to raise awareness of TB within the community, to encourage people with severe and persistent coughs to visit their doctor, to ensure TB sufferers complete their course of treatment and to work in collaboration with the health centres to monitor the programme.

Awareness raising days have taken place in all the villages in the areas where the programme is running. This is an effective way of educating the whole community about the risks of tuberculosis and ways of preventing the disease. As a result, attitudes are starting to change. Both the number of suspected sufferers attending hospital for tests and the number of people who have received treatment have increased. The provision of materials, such as blankets and essential food rations, has motivated sufferers to seek help. 162 tuberculosis sufferers have benefited from free treatment, with just 8 people not completing the course of treatment up until now.

Film showings about tuberculosis are a popular and effective method of awareness-raising which we have used within the rural communities.