TB: POLICE WOMAN FIGHTS BACK TB
William Omwega

15th December 2010
Aweil : Looking at her frail body and comparing it to the passport photo appearing on her police identification card you can barely imagine that she is the same woman.
Amiir Nyang is a police woman at Aweil and when we met her at the Aweil TB clinic she was on a six months medical leave after she was diagnosed with Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
She started feeling unwell about four months ago and at first she didn’t think it was something serious. She thought that it was a bout of malaria after she experienced vomiting and fever. She took anti-malaria drugs but her condition continued to deteriorate further. She started coughing a lot and lost body weight pretty first and that is when her husband got concerned. He wanted to take her to Khartoum for treatment but was advised by a relative to seek treatment at the Aweil TB program, which is run by AAA(Arkangelo Ali Association).
At the clinic she was examined and sent to the laboratory for a sputum test to detect TB. The results turned out positive and her condition was further complicated by the fact that was already 3 months pregnant.
She was immediately put on treatment after being counseled and advised on strict adherence to anti-TB treatment in order to avoid developing drug resistant TB and other complication associated with TB.
It is now two months since she started her treatment and Amiir has greatly improved. She is no longer coughing and the chest pain has disappeared completely.
Her good progress was confirmed after repeating the sputum test at 2 months and found to be negative from TB bacteria.The absence of TB bacteria in sputum is medically referred to as smear negative. She was clearly happy, “I am very happy about my progress and hope to be fully cured soon,” said Amiir.
Despite Amiir showing a brave face, she continues facing stigma back at her home as a result of contracting TB. Some of her neighbors don’t want her near their children or compound. They no  longer gossip about her disease but tell her on the face, “some neighbours say I can’t talk to them since I have TB,” said Amiir.
Her husband has remained very supportive through out her illness and encourages her to complete her medication so that she can prove to their neighbours that TB is indeed curable.
Amiir, just like many Sudanese continue facing stigma after contracting TB. Cases have been reported of husbands disowning their wives after discovering that they suffer from TB.
The public needs to be educated on how TB is transmitted and above all know that with prompt treatment TB is curable.