Dimapur, May 21 : Considering the need to tackle the issue of Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis (TB) among the grassroot population, Nagaland Users’ Network (NUN) conducted a sensitization workshop on May 10 with key stakeholders at the Satakha Area GBs’ Union hall, Satakha town.
Ketholelie from HepCoN and Renbonthung from NUN were the resource persons of the workshop.
The first session, Ketholelie explained Hepatitis C as a disease of the liver and its routes of transmission, diagnostics, new directly acting anti-virals treatment drugs. Stressing on the importance of HCV to be of concern in the state, Ketholelie lamented that the State government has failed its people by not formulating any program or policy to address the HCV burden in the state and that people continue to die inspite of treatment available. He has sought involvement of the larger section of society in responding to the neglected disease.
Prior to his presentation, Ketho also briefly spoke on the concept of targeted intervention program being implanted by NUN at Satakha which primarily work to prevent and control HIV among risk groups.
The second session was facilitated by Renbonthung Tungoe where he spoke on tuberculosis, its diagnosis and treatment. The resource person shared TB to be a killer disease with India as the highest TB burden country in the world where Nagaland also contributes to the country’s prevalence.
He said TB is an air borne disease which can significantly infect people if proper preventive measures are not taken. Further on, he spoke on the basics route of transmission, how it is diagnosed and the various facilities available in the state in terms of treatment.
The discussion focused on the different types of TB such as LTBI, pulmonary/ extra pulmonary TB, MDRTB and XDRTB, and how it is
treated with different categories of drug regimes. He exhorted that “TB is fully curable if proper medical intervention is sought in time.”
The resource persons also spoke on the need to have a concerted effort in responding to this curable disease and that responding to TB should not confine to a particular community but should be a concern of everyone and that community should play a vital role in monitoring the functioning of government run facilities and the quality of treatment made available by the government in their respective area.
The program was chaired by Atolu, NUN, and the vote of thanks pronounced by Kevinguto Khamo, PD NUN.
Altogether 40 participants comprising of members from the town GBs’ Union, Satakha Range Students’ Union (SRSU), STH, OST staff, medical team from BSF, Officer in Charge of Satakha police station, pastors of STBC and UBC and program staff of NUN attended the programme.