The Minister of State Hon. Robinah Nabbanja flanked by Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine have handed over 50 brand new Yamaha motor cycles.

They will assist TB focal person/ surveillance officers to monitor and supervise National TB and Leprosy programmes.

The Motorcycles were procured by Ministry of Health with support from the Global Fund, according to MoH spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an airbone bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB can be acquired by breathing contaminated air droplets coughed or sneezed by a person nearby who has active Tuberculosis. Humans can also get ill with TB by ingesting unpasteurized milk products contaminated with Mycobacterium bovis, also known as Bovine Tuberculosis. The most common form of the infection is pulmonary TB which affects the lungs. In some cases, the bacteria can also attack the lymphatic system, central nervous system, urogenital area, joints, and bones.

Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in Uganda with an annual incidence of 330 cases of all forms and 136 new smear positive cases per 100,000 people per year.

Uganda is among the 22 countries concentrating 80 % of the tuberculosis (TB) burden in the world. Since 1995 the case notification rate has been increasing yearly by 10 %. Thirty-seven thousand new cases (all TB forms) were diagnosed in 2001 (132 per 100 000 inhabitants).

It has been estimated though that the number of new patients detected with a positive smear for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) represents just over half of the existing cases. These numbers may be even higher: a household survey in the capital Kampala showed an unexpected high rate of TB; more than half of the cases found had not been detected before the survey.