Guyana on track to end TB by 2030 – Programme Director

…296 cases, lowered incidence rate recorded in 2022

…new treatment regimens to be introduced

Guyana is on track to end tuberculosis in the country by the year 2030, as the Health Ministry continues to build on mechanisms established to reach patients countrywide.
On the Health Matters programme on Thursday, Director of the Tuberculosis Programme under the Health Ministry, Dr Jeetendra Mohanlall pointed to statistics, which show a decline in the incidence rate since efforts were made to tackle TB.
Challenges have nevertheless circled around the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lack of the Daily DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy) for patients.

“We’re on track to end TB by 2030. However, we still have some challenges. COVID came and derail the programme a little bit. Persons are not having the daily DOTS. We still have some struggles in Region Four where we’re not getting the full daily DOTS,” Dr Mohanlall explained.
At the end of 2022, 396 new cases were detected or an incidence rate of 53 per 100,000.
He recognized, “We have actually made some strides over the years to reduce the incidence of TB. If we reflect back to 2012 when we actually rolled out all TB services in the 10 regions for detection and treatment, we had 92 per 100,000. Over the years, we were able to reduce it.”
Instances of Tuberculosis and HIV co-infection also exists but this been on the decline. In 2012, the co-infection rate was 32 percent when compared to 16 in 2022.
“We continue to work together with our colleagues from the HIV programme. There are a lot of work to do but over the years, we have managed to drop the burden of TB co-infection with a lot of prevention. On the note of prevention, we have new medications to introduce in the country for latent TB infection.”
A combination pill of rifapentine and isoniazid will be rolled out soon to decrease the pill burden.
The Director reasoned, “To treat latent TB infection currently, we’re using isoniazid daily for six months and with this combination that we will be launching soon, we will be giving the patients once a week for 12 weeks. That’s half the time and only once a week.”
For multi-drug resistant TB, five cases were detected last year. A regiment of 18 months to two years are sometimes needed but this treatment becomes difficult.
“That can be difficult managing patients for that long and as well as the support system needed. Most of our patients are low socioeconomic backgrounds so that can pose a major challenge. TB is linked to poverty and we see these things in where persons are from and the daily existence. We see a lot of struggles,” he reflected.
A new regimen over the course of six months will be undertaken to treat this subset of TB patients.
Guyana has moved from one TB site in the year 2000 to now having some 21 sites across the country, and five established TB clinics in the prisons. Another site will be created at Soesdyke next for which staffers are being trained. The ministry had also rolled out regional testing for TB using the Gene X-pert technology.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by germs spread between persons through the air. While it typically affects the lungs, it can also affect other parts of the body including brain, kidneys, or spine. Despite being preventable and curable, TB remains a challenge, causing 1.5 million deaths globally every year. (G12)