Chronic diseases need state action

DAILY NEWS Reporter

MEDICAL practitioners and researchers in the country want the government to start thinking about providing free treatment for chronic diseases like renal failure, hypertension and diabetes for the benefit of people on antiretroviral drugs.

Ifakara Health Institute HIV specialist, Dr Herry Mapesi said that research findings from 2005 of the free distribution of ARVs in the country have shown that people on these drugs are living as long as those who are not but because these drugs tend to be toxic, people are prone to chronic diseases.

“Increasingly we are seeing people who take ARVs contract diabetes, blood pressure, kidney failure and others and the fact that some of these patients are aging means more complications like low marrow density,” he explained.

Dr Mapesi said that the fact that ARV treatments are provided freely by the government and not for other chronic diseases brings about a huge challenge and that he feels it is high time the government thinks about addressing this.

He cited that evidence currently available shows that 25 per cent of patients when tested for HIV have renal problems and 12 per cent have high blood pressure complications and hence the need for a patient centered model approach.

Concurring with the sentiments of Dr Mapesi, another doctor from IHI, Dr Andrew Katende said that apart from chronic diseases, cryptococcal meningitis, an air borne fungus infection from pigeon droppings, is ravaging patients on ARVs globally and in the country.

Dr Katende said that at the moment data about the true magnitude of the disease is unknown but in 2002 Dar es Salaam was leading with 90 per cent of those tested with HIV had the fungus while in Ifakara 39 per cent had it.

“At a global level, nearly one million people contract the fungus where half of these patients died from the disease because of delayed detection. Of the one million, 700,000 cases occur in Sub Saharan Africa, so you can see how deadly this disease is,” he explained.

The expert said that if the fight against this disease is to be squarely fought, there was need to have widespread available test kits, access to optimal anti-fungus drugs as well as lower the threshold for medical practitioners to suspect meningitis.

The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children deputy minister, Dr Hamisi Kigwangallah, said in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Medical Officer, Prof Mohamed Bakari as Switzerland and Tanzania celebrate 50 years of scientific endeavor and cooperation, much has been gained.

Prof Bakari said that the establishment of the chronic disease clinic in 2004, before antiretroviral therapy was widely available in the country, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and IHI had established a clinic for provision of therapeutic services for patients with HIV.

He said that over the ten year period, the clinic has served more than 9,000 patients - representing one of the largest and longest running patient cohort studies in sub Saharan Africa.