The challenge of initiating TB clubs in schools

Submitted by kyeswa johnson m (johni) about 8 months ago

Tuberculosis education is not being dealt with in one Ugandan school. The Catholic highschool, St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School in Kaliro Masaka invited my organisation to hold an outreach on 23 July. We learned that the school has a weekly AIDS club, where students can discuss issues related to HIV and AIDS. Perhaps they can also discuss TB, we asked.

After the sensitization of AIDS, my group discussed the co-existence of HIV and TB. Some students seemed interested to include TB issues in their weekly meetings, but many students and teachers rejected the idea. They felt that social stigma would ensue when those with TB announced their status.

“TB is no longer existing. Even our students cannot acquire it,” said one teacher. “Our students are okay, so there is no need to initiate a club.”

The teacher went on to say that students only need guidance on behavioural issues.

“TB is not a behavioural infection. In this school we need topics that are related to behaviour. AIDS club is okay because it inculcates behavioural change,” he said.

The teacher thought TB clubs were better initiated in hospital settings rather than in his school. If a student starts coughing at school his or her fellow students will think that it’s TB. They fear the student will be isolated, shunned by his or her peers.

Then, why do we create such an illusionary environment for our students?

The teacher concluded by saying that the AIDS club is enough for this school, maybe we should try other schools.

Negative approaches in TB education still exist within our people. The fact is that people are not aware of TB in Uganda though many are dying from TB every minute; the challenge still remains on low levels of sensitization among our people. Uganda is one of the sub-Saharan countries with the highest TB rate and ranks 15th out of the 22 countries in the whole world with the highest number of TB cases.

In 2006, the country had more than 106,000 new cases with an estimated incidence rate of 355 per 100,000 populations.

So this teacher at the Catholic school in Uganda does not know whether there are people out there dying from TB and whether such number exists. Registering that number is enough to tell that many are still suffering from this scourge and today, I believe the number might have doubled.

Three years are enough to create such precedent. I think school teachers also need to be sensitized on the issues of TB and how important it is for them to take a proactive action in sensitizing young people about its effects. You can’t imagine a person taking care of a thousand students with such lamentations. This is sheer madness for teachers not to understand the existence of TB in the country. Who should be blamed for such bizarre statement? Is it the teacher or all actors including the government for their failure to inform the public about the pandemic? Development partners should come on board and support anti-TB clubs in various schools so that students are aware of the monster and able of creating an environment of free TB population.

Keywords: children education HIV information schools students TB

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