At first, five-year-old Msto Pushen’s family thought his fever and malaise could be remedied by giving him some local herbs.
“It was two months before we learnt about this hospital. We travelled over 1,000km on a motorbike taxi and then a bus to get here. It was a very difficult journey, but he would have died otherwise.” But much of the recent effort has been funded by Britain, which in 2019 launched a three-year programme to tackle VL and four other neglected tropical diseases — preventable or curable diseases that mainly affect the poor, often stopping them from working and trapping them in poverty.
“We continue to distribute drugs to fight neglected tropical diseases and perform surgeries in the most urgent cases,” said the statement, adding that Britain was working to exit programmes responsibly and mitigate the impact of the cuts.VL, also known as Kala Azar, is the deadliest parasitic disease after malaria.
Medical superintendent Solomon Tokey said patients tended to come to the hospital late as the disease was often misdiagnosed and the treatment is slow and difficult. “The disease affects the poorest of the poor,” said Monique Wasunna, Africa director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative , which funds the VL department at Kacheliba hospital.
“We need a new treatment for this disease. There are lots of ideas, but not enough funding ... even most of the competitive grants today go to Covid-based research.”
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)