At TB Control Guidelines Validation: LCM Head of Secretariat Cautions Health Workers to Accelerate Progress

Mrs. Paulina Doe-Hilton, Head of Secretariat of the Liberia Coordinating Mechanism (LCM) of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (TGF), has challenged health workers in the country to accelerate progress to end Tuberculosis (TB) in the country.

TB continues to be a major public health problem throughout the world, particularly in poor and developing countries like Liberia. Nearly one-third of the global population (about two billion people) is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is at risk of developing the disease. TB usually affects the lungs but it is curable if persons with TB do adhered to treatment.

In an effort to end TB in Liberia, Mrs. Hilton said health workers need to keep focus on increasing case notification and treatment for all persons infected with TB in order to save the lives of those venerable to the spread of the disease.

“I challenge you all to go out there do your job to the best of your abilities to save the lives of all persons living with TB in our country. Please understand that TB is everyone’s business and we have to end its spread,” said Mrs. Hilton.

The LCM Head of Secretariat made the statement during the opening of a two day validation workshop organized by the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Program (NLTCP) in the Port City of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, from 14-15 December, 2017. She expressed optimism that with the new tool, the TB program will have a turnaround in the TB response. She further thanked Mrs. Dedeh Kesselly, NLTCP Manager and team for their farsightedness to keep health practitioners abreast with new technology in response to TB.

Either giving an overview of the newly developed TB Guidelines, Mrs. Kesselly averred that the new approach is a matter of social justice, fundamental to meeting national and global targets of health coverage. According to her, the guidelines seek an integrated, patient-centered care and prevention, bold policies and supportive systems, and intensified research and innovation.

She said the new TB Guidelines are intended to help keep health workers up-to-date with new technology and protocols in prevention and management of TB.

“The guidelines adopt all three pillars of the ‘2015 End TB Strategy,’ a WHO recommendation to align the TB prevention, care and control services. The “End TB Strategy” calls for everyone with TB should have access to the innovative tools and services they need for rapid diagnosis, treatment, care and support services,” Mrs. Kesselly stated.