The Ministry of Health through the National Tuberculosis Leprosy Elimination Program (NTLEP) has engaged the faith leaders in the fight against TB as well as Leprosy in Malawi.
Speaking after the meeting NTLEP, Public Private National Coordinator Noel Mphasa said as NTLEP the ministry thought it is wise to engage faith leaders in the fight against TB and Leprosy because they are part of the society and also they are respected in their communities which means they have the capability to convince and advise people on issues to do with TB and Leprosy.
Mphasa also noted that the concept of PPM is that they want to engage everyone in TB diagnostic activities and even treatment activities and by engaging everyone it means even the faith leaders have to take part.
“We have engaged the Faith leaders to disseminate on TB to their congregations and also in their communities where they live. So, they can take out TB messages especially on the signs and symptoms of TB as well as Leprosy and these messages can easily be transmitted to the communities through their congregations, you know these people do meet a lot of people during their congregation meeting, they have got a large of crowd of people they interact with,” he said.
He added that through raising awareness in church, they hope people with signs and symptoms of the two conditions can come forward for diagnosis and encourage those that are being diagnosed to take the treatment as they are told for the whole period of time.
According to Mphasa, Faith leaders can also encourage their people in terms of counselling because there are others who are diagnosed with TB and they are reluctant to take the medication.
Mphasa further said that the Ministry and faith leaders have a responsibility to work together in the fight against TB and Leprosy.
In his remarks, Father Samuel Malamulo of Utale 2 Catholic Parish in Balaka said as Faith leaders they are happy that the Ministry of Health through NTLEP has engaged them on the elimination of TB and Leprosy and they will use their structures to convince their people in their churches to undergo TB diagnostic and also always take medication when they are diagnosed with TB.
“We will use our structures to convince the people first of all to tell them that God is looking for the good health of human beings and God is asking us to use the means that are there to help us enjoy that good health and then after convincing them we will be inviting health personnel people from different health facilities or from the districts.
“We will be in touch with DHO officers as well the zones that are responsible for this special program of eliminating TB and Leprosy to speak to them as experts. It is our responsibility to convince them that a person who is a believer in God must also be interested in good health by using means that God has provided us with here on earth,” said Malamulo.
Malamulo also noted that it is very important for them as faith leaders to be engaged in the elimination of TB and Leprosy because it is an opportunity for them to continue the good work they already started in helping the human beings especially on issues to do with Health.
Follow us on Twitter:
