2024-01-28 11:39:16
Around twenty healthcare providers benefited from a capacity building seminar on the fight against tuberculosis. From January 17 to 25, the N’tchengue regional hospital center and the program offered technical and practical tools to healthcare providers in the maritime region in order to better prevent tuberculosis.
“We must all fight to contain this disease and ensure that our populations can receive treatment, which is available and free throughout the national territory”indicated Dr Jocelyn Mahoumbou director of the national tuberculosis control program.
The N’tchengue regional hospital center served as the setting for this training seminar, under the leadership of the national tuberculosis control program. It must be said that within the next few weeks this hospital will be equipped with cutting-edge equipment, capable of carrying out a diagnosis in less than thirty minutes. The Genexpert is this tool that allows you to detect mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to rifampicin in just a few clicks.
“Our mission in this training is to make the Omboué medical center autonomous in relation to the treatment of tuberculosis, instead of patients coming to Port-Gentil to receive care. Screening is free throughout the country,” stated Dr Marius Mukala Ngoy, chief physician of the Cécile Onanga Medical Center in Omboué.
Doctors, nurses, majors and many others were made aware of the means of prevention and the mechanisms for early diagnosis of tuberculosis. Despite the important screening points in the country, Gabon is one of the thirty countries in the world with high contamination. A situation which sufficiently demonstrates the lack of implementation of screening zones in the country.
“Until then Omboué is not a screening center, screening will still be done in Port-Gentil while waiting for us to have the necessary tools, and therefore for the moment Omboué is limited only to treatment,” specifies the Dr Marius Mukala Ngoy.
The objective of this capacity building seminar is also to encourage the population to visit health centers, where case management is provided and free according to the National Tuberculosis Control Program.
“It will bring a precedence in care which will allow healthcare providers to diagnose patients early and treat them. This has an implication at the community level because a person suffering from tuberculosis can infect ten to fifteen people per year. The sooner it is diagnosed, the sooner it stops contaminating the population ››warns Dr Jocelyn Mahoumbou.
509 cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 inhabitants is the number of new cases of the disease. As for the Ogooué-Maritime province, 362 cases linked to tuberculosis were identified in 2022 according to the PLNLT. This is why preventive treatment for children has been made available to families. Available from the child’s first four months, it cuts the chain of contamination.
“This preventive treatment is effective and protects you for six to nineteen years,” he clarified.
Vincent Ranozinault
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