AN official of the Tuberculosis Unit in TRAC-PLUS has revealed that the disease has increased among secondary schools and university students in Kigali City.

This was revealed by the official in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation in the TB Unit at TRAC-PLUS, Evariste Gasana, while addressing students of INILAK yesterday during a one-day campaign against the disease.

"According to a survey we carried out between October-2009-May-2020, 118 students from secondary schools and universities in the city were found to be infected with TB,” he said.

"This shows that there is a serious rise of this disease among students and the problem needs an urgent supervision and solution because there is a possibility that the number might even continue to increase if something is not done to address the issue”.

He however pointed out that the Ministry of Health and other concerned institutions are determined to address the mater urgently” Gasana said.

Speaking to The New Times, Gasana said that there is at least one student infected with TB at every secondary and university in Kigali city.

He said that of the 118 infected students, 62 students have lung TB which is transmitted through breathing.
Gasana advised the over 700 students to always go for medical check-up if any of them suffers from cough for a period of 2 weeks and beyond.

Hariri Ngabonziza, the supervisor of TB project in the National Youth Council (NYC), highlighted some symptoms and signs of persons infected with TB and asked the students to avoid sharing drinks and food on the same plates, straws and cups.

He told The New Times that they have visited 6 secondary schools in Gasabo District, 6 in Kicukiro and 5 schools in Nyarugenge as a well as the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) where they carried out similar campaigns.

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