NAIROBI (IDN) – Catherine Nduta, 26, was diagnosed with Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in 2012, when she was a third year student at one of Kenya\u2019s universities, where she was undertaking a civil engineering course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was almost 6-month pregnant hence couldn\u2019t start MDR-TB treatment. I was to either terminate the pregnancy for me to start medication or continue with normal TB medication until I give birth,\u201d Nduta told a forum organized by StopTB Partnership Kenya<\/a>, that attracted Kenya\u2019s Members of Parliament (MPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI finally underwent induction and my baby was removed prematurely for me to start medication. 12 months of injections and 24 months of taking 18 pills a day: life was hard,\u201d says she, now mother of one son.\u00a0|\u00a0JAPANESE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nduta is not a lone sufferer of MDR-TB. Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya\u2019s two biggest cities, host the highest number of normal tuberculosis cases due to poor urban settlements and high population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 60 percent of Nairobi\u2019s 3.5 million population is living in slums because of an unavoidable deficit in housing, sanitation and nutrition, which make people vulnerable to infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDrug Resistant TB (DR-TB) is an emerging threat in Kenya because of the difficulty in diagnosis and treatment. Its treatment takes close to 20 months and requires a direct cost of drugs of up to 3 million Kenyan Shillings (equivalent to some 28,000 USD),\u201d Dr. Enos Masini, head of tuberculosis, leprosy and lung disease at Kenya\u2019s Health Ministry, told IDN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost of those who suffer from tuberculosis are poor and cannot afford pay for treatment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this in view, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is engaged in supporting Kenya fight TB. Along with South Africa and Zambia, this East African nation ranks among three TB endemic countries in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While public health officials were jittery in 2013 about rising cases of drug-resistant strains of TB, JICA donated high-tech TB testing equipment worth 32 million Kenyan Shillings (some 313,528.96 USD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStrengthening the capacity of laboratories and their network (application of new laboratory testing methods such as use of fluorescent microscopes, improving drugs susceptibility testing to identify drug DR-TB and improving quality assurance and testing) has been JICA\u2019s main area of assistance in TB control in recent years,\u201d Keiko Sano, Chief Representative of JICA in Kenya<\/a> told IDN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JICA also donated 102 LED fluorescent microscopes to Kenya\u2019s Public Health Ministry. The country had only 20 of such machines in all the public health facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenya found itself in a dilemma in 2014 due to lack of MDR-TB drugs, and was constrained to borrow these from Malawi and neighbouring Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a big embarrassment,\u201d says Evlyn Kibuchi, chief national coordinator at StopTB Partnership Kenya, an organization that brings together partners in the fight against tuberculosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sano said the international community on the whole, not only JICA, is of the view that domestic financing is key to sustainable control of high-burden diseases such as TB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Communicable disease control high on JICA\u2019s agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe welcome the government of Kenya\u2019s commitment to gradually increase its domestic financing. Also integration of TB-related services with other health services can save costs. Maintaining quality of integrated services in this context is crucial,\u201d JICA\u2019s Chief Representative in Kenya told IDN in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Japan fully embraces the recently adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will take over in December from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the next 15 years, Sano said, communicable disease control, TB included, is still high on JICA\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJapan recently launched its new five-year global health policy (2016-2020). We are committed to assist Kenya to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and believe in strengthening health systems, which is the basis of diseases-specific programmes to perform better,\u201d Sano added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Murgor, a Kenyan Member of Parliament and member of the national parliament health caucus committee, is concerned about donor fatigue in the wake of this East African nation being ranked as a middle-income country. He pleads for increased government funding to address TB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n