“Knowledge, adherence and perseverance if one is HIV positive as well as being treated for TB keeps you going,” says Pauline Manika of Manika village under chief Masunda of Chivi.
BY HAZVINEI MWANAKA
In 1996, Manika’s health deteriorated. She had constant headaches and always felt weak.
“At the clinic, I was just treated for the recurring headache, not knowing that there was something more,” she said.
Manika, a devout Seventh-Day Adventist Church member, said she later attended a church camp meeting, where they were encouraged to go and get tested for HIV if they were not feeling well.
“In 1998, I visited my brother in Kwekwe, who also encouraged me to get tested. It wasn’t easy, but I finally gave in,” she said.
“After my family members’ support, I accepted my results and later I was initiated on anti-retroviral treatment (ART), which I am on up to now.”
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However, in 2009 Manika’s health deteriorated, as she started feeling weak again, to the extent of failing to do simple household chores and was always coughing during the night.
She later visited Chivi District Hospital, where she was put on TB treatment, which she completed.
Manika said after two years, her health started deteriorating again to the extent that she was not even able to feed her chickens, her major source of income.
“I was always sleeping and coughing, and when I later visited the hospital, they said I had a relapse of TB. From the knowledge I had acquired from support groups, I now had full knowledge of the disease and also knowing that it could be treated, hence, I was not afraid at all,” she said.
With support from family members, who at times accompanied her to the hospital, Manika successfully completed her treatment again, which included daily injections.
She believes the lectures they received at the hospital helped her to make a decision of always getting tested early, so as to receive treatment and to accept her condition.
“I learnt a lot. We were taught to accept our conditions and mostly to eat healthy food,” she said, adding she usually eats home-grown traditional dishes such as rapoko, dried meat, okra and maheu. A widow with six children, Manika is into market gardening, chicken and goat rearing.
She added that at the end of each month, she has a generous income, which she gets after selling her crops and chickens and uses the money to buy basic needs for herself and her family.
Manika believes support from the family is essential when one is HIV positive, as well as being treated for TB.
“My family is very important to me. They helped me throughout difficult times and they are still helping. I believe, if one is given the love they need, it helps so much,” she added.
Manika is also a member of a support group in her village, where they learn a lot about living positively, including acceptance and disclosure.
According to Zimbabwe National Network for People living with HIV (ZNNP+) Masvingo provincial co-ordinator, Morgen Changamire, in rural areas, they help people living positively by promoting support groups.
“These support groups help to strengthen psychosocial support, counselling, information dissemination and education. We also offer capacity building training to keep communities aware of some changing trends on TB treatment and care,” he said.
However, the drought that hit many areas in the country has not spared Manika’s community.
She said her advice to people living positively and being treated for TB was that they have to accept their conditions and take their medicine whole-heartedly.
“Mostly, you have to be prayerful. This helped me so much and you also have to heed to advice that you will be given especially at health facilities,” Manika said.
She urged everyone taking care of people being treated for TB to show love and support.
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union) country director, Christopher Zishiri, said communities need to be empowered if the country is to win the fight against TB.
“Once the community knows what TB is, its signs and symptoms, they are able to seek for TB services when they feel they may be at risk of TB, as well as to demystify myths and misconceptions and are able to take care of their loved ones who have TB,” he said The deputy director of the Aids and TB Unit in the Health and Child Care ministry, Charles Sandy, said part of strengthening adherence to TB treatment also involved the counselling of patients.
“They are taught on the importance of adherence to treatment, side effects to expect and how to deal with side effects,” he said.
“The ministry, in collaboration with its partners, trained community health workers, who work as volunteers at community level, to educate community members on TB, among other duties. These trainings to community health workers are meant to equip them with correct information on TB, so that they disseminate accurate information.”
During this year’s World TB Day commemorations in March, UNAids called for a stronger partnership and a united approach to end the twin TB and HIV epidemics.
UNAids executive director, Michel Sidibé said then: “Harnessing the potential of everyone involved in the response to HIV and TB is needed now more than ever to end these epidemics and create a healthier world as part of the sustainable development goals.”
According to the Health and Child Care ministry, an average of 28 763 patients were successfully treated for TB per year between 2011 and 2014.
Under the USAid-funded Challenge TB programme, The Union is working with the Health ministry in establishing integrated TB-HIV care sites to offer a comprehensive package to patients dually infected with TB and HIV.
This intervention, which started in the cities, is currently being rolled out to the rural sites to lessen the burden on patients.
