Kenya launches strategic plan to eliminate TB by 2030

The 2023-2028 national strategic plan is a renewed push by the East African nation to accelerate momentum toward the achievement of the global goal of ending TB by 2030.

Mary Muriuki, the principal secretary for the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards in the Ministry of Health, said Kenya is committed to eradicating tuberculosis which often ravages poor communities.

"The strategic plan does not only acknowledge the existing challenges in TB control but also proposes practical interventions to address the root causes of these barriers," Muriuki said during the launch of the TB elimination strategy in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

She revealed that full implementation of the plan will require sustained investment, political goodwill, and strategic collaboration between the government and the private sector.

Kenya recorded 90,841 TB cases in 2022, up from the 77,854 cases reported in 2021, Muriuki said, adding that the figure represents 68 percent of the estimated 133,000 TB cases that were likely to emerge that year, leaving 32 percent undiagnosed and untreated.

In addition, multidrug-resistant TB cases totaled 756 in 2022, Muriuki said.

Abdourahmane Diallo, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Kenya, said more than 10.6 million individuals fell ill as a result of TB globally in the year 2022, including an estimated 1.25 million children and adolescents, and the disease caused 1.1 million deaths.

Diallo said the WHO has identified Kenya as one of the top 30 high-burden countries for TB, with an estimated 128,000 cases and 17,000 deaths in 2022.

He hailed Kenya's TB elimination strategy, the development of which was informed by the latest WHO global guidance that calls for placing individuals and communities at the forefront of tackling the bacterial disease.

According to Diallo, the strategic plan aligns seamlessly with the WHO's End TB Strategy, whose overarching goal is to reduce cases, and prevent deaths and economic losses for countries linked to the highly infectious disease.

Source: Xinhua