DOTS: An answer to TB in Zimbabwe?

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 September 2009 12:46 Written by Regina Bhebhe Tuesday, 22 September 2009 12:41

Despite the achievements of the recent years, there are still tremendous barriers to ensuring equitable access to high quality DOTS services and achieving TB control targets throughout Zimbabwe.

(DOTS stands for Directly Observed Treatment Short course and is the internationally recommended strategy for TB control).

The rapid scale-up of DOTS coverage has put high demand on programme management, supervision and quality control.

The human and social dimension of the TB epidemic cannot be adequately addressed without involving those most affected by the disease, by poverty and the resulting consequences of their sickness on their jobs and family lives.

People directly affected by TB and their communities have to be involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of health interventions. To promote a partnership between the health services and local communities can help provide practical solutions to the problems many people face when they fall ill and need diagnosis and proper care, as well as lead to more effective interventions by health professionals.

Since the natural history of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a progressive loss of immune function and the eventual appearance of one or more opportunistic diseases, its effect on tuberculosis, critically dependent on the body’s immune defences.

The fact that the two epidemics fuel each other demands that interventions for limiting the spread of both should be integrated at all levels in Zimbabwe.

Thus in Zimbabwe we seek to implement interventions that will reduce mycobacterium tuberculosis through intensified case finding and strengthening the DOT and DOTS.