“Checka impilo” the slogan that saw crowds from Lynnville attending an awareness campaign about the bacterial lung disease Tuberculosis (TB).
The event which was hosted by the department of Mpumalanga health took place on Thursday, March 05 at Lynnville Community Stadium in the morning.
The Community-based Health Services Director, Nombuso Memela, revealed that the concept of this awareness campaign was inspired by the need to reach out to society to improve and promote healthy lifestyles.
“We want people to learn so that they can be able to prevent different diseases that might attack them. As the Department of Health we continue with service delivery, hence the mobile facilities outside because we want to increase access to health and quality so that people can be aware and empowered so that they can stand up and check their health.”
The director emphasized that this time they prioritized pregnant women to prevent mother to child transmission.
“We focused more on TB because we want people to know that TB is an infectious disease, although it is infectious it can be preventable and curable so that we can have a society that is free from TB, which is why we prioritized to protect pregnant women so that it does not affect unborn babies.”
Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) from Mpumalanga Department of Health, Sasekani Manzini added that their challenge as the department is that people do not want to get tested for various diseases and assume to be in good health.
“We encourage people to go to the clinics and check their health statuses. We are saying bravely, it is time to end TB because we know it is possible. The only problem is when we advise people to get tested; they assume the tests are for HIV, then decides not to test. That is a huge mistake and concern.”
“We have community health workers who go all the way to your homes to make sure that people take their medications, but still that is a challenge. People get sick and not go to the clinic until their health deteriorates, then end up giving hospital names to say that if you go to that particular hospital, you won’t come back. How would you come back if you did not take the first earliest step so that you can be able to heal from your sickness?”
Manzini bolstered the community to option for prevention as compared to wasting essential resources because of an illness that could have been prevented.
She further added that people must stop with the stigma against TB and HIV and AIDS.
“We know of the stigma people have about TB, they say if you have TB it means you are HIV positive, you can have TB and not be HIV positive. Even if you have both, what does it have? Why do we stigmatize that? There are so many things that can cause both illnesses, it does not usually mean one does not take care of themselves. You can be HIV positive as a result of a lack of knowledge.”
Over 12 000 people in Mpumalanga province are patients of the bacterial lung disease Tuberculosis, with the highest being Enhlanzeni district and Nkangala being the lowest with only over 3 000 patients, that is according to the MEC.
“We have to work together as a community to uphold good health standards; we want people to live long. The resources are there to assist people, make use of them. The more people live longer, the more we perform.”
Although the awareness was mainly about TB, the MEC also touched on the novel coronavirus.
“As the department, we are on high alert and prepared should a case of COVID-19 emerge. Already we have a referral in place to assist those affected, so people should not panic.”
Manzini said though there were no reported cases in the province, she advised the community to follow good hygiene practices such as covering mouth when coughing or sneezing with a bent elbow, tissue or handkerchief and maintaining at least one metre distance between you and the person coughing or sneezing.
“Ensure that your homes and workplaces are clean and hygienic, disinfect the surfaces regularly, and wash your hands time and again,” she calculated.
Manzini added that people experiencing symptoms which include fever, sore throat, tiredness, body pains, dry cough and diarrhoea should report to their nearest health establishment for a test for coronavirus.
