The World Health Organisation (WHO) will assist the Sindh government in implementation of Directly Observed Treatment (DOTS), the community-based programme, to control tuberculosis in the province.
The programme will have a collaborative co-operation from the Family Medicine Department of the Ziauddin Medical University at the implementation stage. Whereas the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has also been involved in the project.
In this regard, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed recently among the stakeholders, including Dr Nazeer A. Kolachi, district officer (curative), CDGK; Dr Iqtedar Ahmed, director, TB Control Programme, Sindh; and Dr Jawaid Usman, chairman, Department of Family Medicine, Ziauddin Medical University (ZMU). Representatives of WHO were also present on the occasion, said ZMU sources.
Both WHO and the Sindh government are collaborating in implementation of DOTS to control TB in the province, including Karachi. The case detection in the city, however, is sub-optimal. It requires a major input to build partnership in achieving the 70 percent detection target for smear positive cases and 85 percent for treatment.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr Iqtedar Ahmed said that partnership would complement the activities by engaging participants in mutual liaison at the planning and implementation levels concerning the social mobilisation of communities.
The understanding is to ensure early case detection and successful treatment of tuberculosis. This would be achieved by making communities realise the importance of tuberculosis control and removing stigmas associated to it, he said, adding education tools would be used to seek change their behaviour in seeking health care services.
Dr Nazeer Kolachi said all the three parties would take steps to support activities of lady health workers for augmenting efforts to carry out the detection and treatment of TB patients by using the strategy of DOTS, while WHO would extend technical support. All the three organisations would periodically draw up and review their working modalities to develop better working relationship such as provision of logistics by TB Control Programme, Sindh, he added.
Dr Jawaid Usman said, in return, to logistics support from the TB Control Programme, Sindh, and technical support from WHO, the ZMU Family Medicine Department would actively implement DOTS programme in the designated areas, adding the parties would further collaborate on this multi-faceted programme, which was aimed at improving health and economic status of the people.
The agreement would facilitate synchronisation of efforts, collaboration, and integration of activities. This, however, would not restrict or abridge the working of either parties, concerning social or fund generation projects already in operation, he said.
He also said all these activities to be executed by the ZMU Family Medicine Department would be within the ambit of the National Guidelines for the TB Control. The ZMU Family Medicine Department was engaged in similar activities involving the treatment of tuberculosis in the Sikandarabad Town of Karachi with a view to controlling the incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis, he added.
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