Today, 30 people in Uganda will die from tuberculosis (TB).

Tomorrow, another 30 people in Uganda will die from TB.

Yes, sadly, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every day, 30 people die from TB in Uganda; therefore, in 2024, an estimated 10,980 people died from TB in Uganda.

TB is caused by mycobacterium TB, bacteria that “is transmitted through the air and primarily infects the lungs.” As a matter of fact, TB is the “second deadliest infectious disease in the world after COVID-19.”

Read “NIAID Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Research” for more insights on TB.

It is feasible that in the case of Uganda, of the two infectious diseases TB and Covid-19, TB is the deadliest one.

Case in point, as of April 2024, according to worldometer, 172,149 cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Uganda; of which two percent (3,632 people) died, three times less than deaths from TB in a year in Uganda.

Uganda and Ugandans are in crisis for our Country is a high TB burden country, where, every year, over 90,000 people get infected with TB. Tens of thousands of deaths from TB are unnecessary deaths – dying from a disease that is preventable and curable.

As it has been done in other geographies of the world, the spread of TB in Uganda can be stopped and ultimately, the disease can be eradicated from our Country; and the word “tuberculosis” no longer in general usage as it is now.

Since it is an airborne disease, stopping its spread necessarily means quickly identifying those who are infected and ensure that they do not unknowingly infect others. Unfortunately, Uganda still has significant insufficient capacity to carryout timely and quick TB diagnosis countrywide.

In 2023, for example, according to WHO, of 86,469 people diagnosed with a new or relapse case of TB in Uganda, only 69 percent of them were tested with rapid diagnostics at the time of diagnosis.  

Once identified and diagnosed, TB infected persons should quickly be put on treatment to cure the disease. Grassroots reports, indeed, confirm that the Government of Uganda is doing great in ensuring provision of free TB treatment drugs to all who are infected and seek treatment.

TB treatment drugs are available countrywide and can been accessed from Government health facilities. However, for TB patients, the associated costs for accessing the drugs can be debilitating.

• TB patients have to severally travel to and from health facilities for drug refills and checkups over the duration of six to eight months when they are on treatment. Some of them, have to travel long distances and incur significant travel costs, which they find difficulty to afford.

• Research has found that most TB patients in Uganda are poor and are unable to afford the recommended diets and quantities of food that they need to eat, in order to ensure TB treatment works well and with minimized impact of drug side effects.

Concerning grassroots reports indicate that in some cases, due to inability to afford the travel and feeding costs associated with adherence to TB treatment, some TB patients have unwillingly found themselves at a point where they see no choice but to give up and stop treatment.

In so doing, inevitably, TB patients who prematurely stop treatment, contribute to the reemergence of TB, once under control and on the way to extinction, but now resurging with a vengeance. And, moreover, including the rise of TB strains that are multi-drug resistant, that are harder and fifty times more expensive to treat.

A valid thesis is that if Uganda is to succeed in reducing the spread of TB; deaths from TB and ultimately eradicate TB from Uganda, it is urgent for mechanisms to be put in place to support TB patients in Uganda who find difficulty in meeting costs – expenses on travel and food – associated with adherence to TB treatment.

It is against this background that CPAR Uganda proposes our “End 90,000 people getting tuberculosis annually in Uganda” research and advocacy project.

With the objective to conduct qualitative investigations to generate good quality data, the basis on which suitable and adaptable technologies may be developed to fight TB. Focused on ameliorating crippling cost burdens that TB households bear that are associated with seeking for TB diagnostic services and with adherence of patients to TB treatment regimes.

An intervention CPAR Uganda plans to implement while mentoring university students from disadvantaged backgrounds. To endow such students with transferrable skills in qualitative investigations and to become the spokespersons for their respective communities in advocating for solutions, starting with ending 90,000 people in Uganda getting infected with TB annually.

We cannot do it on our own. We thus invite you to join us in the fight against TB by making a financial contribution in support of our research, advocacy and mentoring project for the benefit of poor TB patients, in particular, and Uganda, as a whole.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to make a donation. Thank you!