Kenya’s fight against tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is being severely undermined by reduced funding. The 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) TB report revealed that global spending on essential TB services decreased from $6 billion in 2019 to $ 4 billion in 2021, less than half the global target of $13 billion annually by 2022.
The shortfall in funding is worsening amid reversed gains due to covid 19 pandemic, thus worsening the situation as low uptake of TB screening, and testing continues to be a challenge.
Kenya is among the thirty countries with the highest burden of TB globally, with an annual TB load of 133,000 cases in 2021. Tragically, only 54% of these caseloads were treated, and an alarming about 50,000 TB cases were not diagnosed. Among these numbers, 25,000-35,000 are open TB cases, meaning these individuals have TB and are infectious and they do not even know it.
“These undiagnosed cases lead to increased transmission of TB infection in communities, resulting in more people developing a disease that could have been prevented,” said Dr. Samuel Kinyanjui, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Kenya Country Director at event organised to mark the World TB Day.
TB has significant socio-economic impacts on society, affecting individuals’ health and limiting their ability to work and participate in social and economic activities. Its treatment can also be expensive, placing a financial burden on affected individuals and their families, especially those living in poverty.
In 2021, TB claimed 1.6 million lives, and over 10 million people acquired the illness, yet it remains neglected and underfunded in many countries. Even though tuberculosis is a global epidemic, over 95% of deaths caused by it occur in lower-income countries. The WHO currently estimates that finances were less than 40% of what was needed to prevent and treat the disease in 2022.
Experts say time is now for heads of state to urgently focus efforts on TB prevention and mitigate millions of avoidable deaths. The lack of investment in healthcare systems, they add, is leaving communities vulnerable to the disease.
“Overburdened healthcare workers are missing obvious TB cases, and failing to provide a proper diagnosis, leading to delayed treatment and increased disease transmission and even death. Investments into healthcare systems must be made, including increasing the capacity of healthcare workers to detect and diagnose TB cases,” Dr. Kinyanjui explained.
To end TB in Kenya, he added, advocacy and community engagement must be scaled up to increase public awareness of TB prevention and treatment, including the importance of testing and early diagnosis.
“TB is a highly contagious disease that can be transmitted through the air. However, many people in Kenya are not aware of the risks associated with TB, including the dangers of late diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr Kinyanjui.
Limited funding means fewer resources are available to educate the public about the disease, leading to a lack of understanding and delays in seeking care thus increasing the risk of transmission. This lack of awareness leads to low uptake of TB screening and testing services.
Funding for TB preventive therapy and active case finding should also be increased. Treating individuals with latent TB infection and screening those at high risk of TB can help identify TB cases early and prevent the spread of the disease.
AHF is calling on stakeholders to increase funding for TB prevention and treatment programs in Kenya. Partnerships between the government, private sector organizations, civil society groups, and international organizations are critical.
Increased funding for awareness creation on the importance of testing for TB and early diagnosis is vital. Advocacy and community engagement efforts must be intensified to increase awareness and understanding of the disease.
“We must all do our part to stop TB in Kenya, not just on World TB Day, but every day,” he said. The upcoming 2nd UN High-Level Meeting on TB, mandated for 2023, presents a unique opportunity for stakeholders to renew their commitments to ending TB in Kenya.
