• Need of PLHIV community to collectivize and come together
• PLHIV urged to voice against needs and demands
Dimapur, November 19 (MExN): Tuberculosis (TB) remains to continue the main killer of people living with HIV and that there is an urgent need for the PLHIB community to be empowered on the aspect of TB. The workshop was held at the office of the KNP+, Kohima on November 19.
ARK Foundation partnered with KNP+ conducted an advocacy driven workshop on TB with the board, staff and members of the PLHIV Network of KNP+.
The resource persons for the workshop were Ketho and Renbonthung. Both the resource persons lamented on the sorry state of affairs of the TB programme in the state. “The State’s RNTCP programme is not been sensitized on the importance of consulting and partnering with the infected and affected and the NGOs working in the field of health. There is a massive need for such synergy to happen if the programme is serious enough to end TB by 2025 as per the national goal,” stated a press release issued by ARK Foundation.
Ketho delivered on the need of the PLHIV community to collectivize and come together and only then the need of the PLHIV of TB services can be availed. He informed about the lack of proper diagnostic and treatment facility for TB in the state and “because of poor and improper diagnosis, it will result in wrong TB treatment. “
He also urged upon the PLHIV participants to “voice against such needs and demands for what they rightfully deserve.” He shared the experience of many PLHIV dying of TB rather than AIDS and also that the basic preventive strategy of IPT was not provided in full package. “Among all the participants who responded to being put on IPT, all of them responded that they were not given the Vitamin B6 called pyridoxine which needs to be administered along with Isoniazidm,” the release alleged.
Renbonthung gave an overview of the TB background by mentioning that it can infect anyone who has been in close contacts to a person with active TB case, but more prominently in the case of a PLHIV as a result of their immune suppression. And that the community of PLHIV has to be considering the issue of TB seriously and not only about AIDS only.
He also gave a brief presentation on the types of TB, such as LTBI, Regular TB, and MDRTB, its cause and signs and symptoms and deliberated the diagnosis and Treatment aspect of the different types of TB, starting from pulmonary TB to XDRTB. He stated that treatment will be based on the type of TB infection with different duration and regimes for different forms of TB. He also put special emphasize on LTBI, which is mostly common in PLHIV and for which IPT has to be initiated for a period of 6 months as per the RNTCP’s initiative.
He, however also mentioned that our state do not have the proper infrastructure and machineries, resulting in lack of proper and treatment. In this given situation, he expressed his concerns that people continue to die in spite of curable medicines being available. In conclusion, he highlighted on some of the side effects of TB medications but also encouraging people on treatment to complete their treatment, without which the TB condition becomes more complicated to be diagnosed and treated.
