Health experts have warned that if the problem of people having HIV/AIDS as well as tuberculosis in Uganda could escalate if proper measures are not taken.
Launching the National TB/HIV Policy and Communication Strategy in Kampala, Sam Zaramba, the director general of Health Services said that the integration of both diseases posed a big threat to the population. "This is probably the reason TB is the leading cause of death among PLHA (people living with HIV/AIDS), constituting 30 percent of all deaths," the state-owned New Vision quoted Zaramba as saying.Health experts maintain that the indelible link between the two diseases mean that prevention has to be stressed more in the health programs. "The TB program is an important entry point for ART scale-up as the HIV program is also an important opportunity for reaching the national and global targets of TB control," said Francis Adatu, the national director of the TB and leprosy program.
Uganda is one of the 22 countries recognized by the WHO as having a huge burden of TB cases.
