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Tuberculosis & Leprosy Situation

Tuberculosis
In Kenya, there has been a steady increase in the number of tuberculosis patients particularly since the early 90’s. This rising number of tuberculosis cases poses a major threat to the health and the economy of this country. The case notification rate has steadily increased from 54 per 100,000 in 1991 to 326 per 100,000 in 2009. The peak age group for both males and females in 2006 was 25 – 34, the economically productive and sexually active age group with a male to female ratio of 1.4.

Currently, the HIV sero-prevalence among the tuberculosis patients was 44% in 2009. The Number of TB cases have stabilized and decline is begining to be noticed but this will become evident in the next two years or so. The annual decrease in TB case notification rate is about 8%. By the end of 2009, all forms of TB cases notified in the public sector were 110,065. WHO estimates that only 80% of the TB cases are being detected in Kenya, indicating that the remaining 20% undetected cases continue to transmit TB. This increasing number of TB cases is thought to be largely associated with the growing HIV epidemic.

Leprosy
Like in most countries, the true prevalence and incidence of leprosy in Kenya is not known. So far, the most reliable indicators to monitor the extent and the trend of the leprosy disease burden is the registered prevalence of cases currently on treatment, and the notification of new cases. Since the introduction of Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) in 1985, the registered prevalence decreased from 6,558 cases in 1986 to 204 cases by the end of 2009. The number of new leprosy cases detected decreased from 630 in 1986 to 157 in 2009.
Kenya at the moment is at the post elimination phase and most of the activities to implement post elimination of Leprosy are currently ongoing.
Leprosy is no longer a public health problem in Kenya. The WHO defines leprosy as a public health problem if there is a registered prevalence of more than one (1) leprosy case per 10,000 population. It is noted that the great majority of new leprosy cases are found in just a few districts in Kenya. However, even in these districts, leprosy is not a public health problem as it has been eliminated, though it is yet to be eradicated.

Below are graphs showing trend in cases of Leprosy and Tuberculosis over the years