Tuberculosis in Togo: a charter to involve patients in the recovery process

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Extract from the article: Togo, known as a country with a high tuberculosis endemic, is continuing its efforts to combat the disease. In 2023, 3,133 cases of all forms of tuberculosis were detected. This relatively high figure is the result of the determination of the various

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Togo, known as a country with a high tuberculosis endemic, is continuing its efforts to combat the disease. In 2023, 3,133 cases of all forms of tuberculosis were detected. This relatively high figure is the result of the determination of the various players involved to save lives through a number of interventions implemented throughout the country. In order to encourage TB patients to become personally involved in the fight against the disease, the National Tuberculosis Control Programme (PNLT) has decided to set up a legal framework. With this in mind, a five-day workshop was organised to draw up a charter for tuberculosis patients.  The workshop brought together around twenty participants in Tsévié in southern Togo from 06 to 10 May 2024.

« He who does not want to help himself can be helped by no one ». This quote from Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi is one that the PNLT has taken to heart and made into its guiding principle.This national programme, which screens and treats people suffering from tuberculosis in Togo, aims to make them more active players in their own recovery.This is achieved by involving them in the healing process.It's one thing to treat a patient, but it's another to ensure that he or she scrupulously follows the prescribed treatment.Hence the creation of the Tuberculosis Patients' Charter, which explains the rights and obligations of people suffering from this disease. It gives patients and their families the means to become personally involved in the treatment process.

The charter is the result of a five-day meeting at which a number of stakeholders (PNLT, the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, the Legal Affairs Division, PNLS, TB focal points in Greater Lomé, Plateaux, Sotouboua, DPS Oti and ATBEF) reviewed the epidemiological history of the disease and the issues involved in combating tuberculosis.  For a nod to history, tuberculosis is a disease caused by a microbe, a bacillus called Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Koch's bacillus (B.K.).

The disease was discovered on 24 March 1882 by Dr Robert Koch, but had already been known for thousands of years.In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates described it as phthisis.It affects the lungs, but can also attack the rest of the body.A distinction is made between latent tuberculosis (cases where your immune system is strong and keeps tuberculosis under control) and active tuberculosis (disease), which is divided into pulmonary TB and extra-pulmonary TB.Sufferers benefit from interventions such as outpatient management or hospitalisation (under hospital or community DOT).They also benefit from screening for HIV co-infection, contact tracing, nutritional support and social protection.The TB patients' charter sets out their rights and obligations. TB patients have the right to life, the right to free choice of healthcare provider and health centre, the right to health and treatment, and the right to human dignity, to name but a few.

However, patients also have obligations. They must share information about their state of health, follow treatment, cooperate in monitoring treatment and respect barrier measures...

It should also be emphasised that the Charter sets out how patients, the community, both public and private health authorities, and governments can work in partnership in an open and positive relationship, with the aim of improving care and increasing the efficiency of healthcare processes.This enables everyone to take greater responsibility for themselves and others.

Source : PNLT