Rwanda Biomedical Centre has launched a tuberculosis fighting campaign to raise public awareness for early treatment, control, and prevention of tuberculosis. A statement released at the weekend stated that the campaign is made up of two phases: the first being a social media campaign dubbed a Friend to Friend while the second phase will be a public education campaign. The Friend to Friend social media phase will kick off on Monday, January 27 and will run up to February 1. This includes using social media accounts of famous celebrities who will be recognized as official ambassadors to raise awareness on TB. These artists who have been selected as ambassadors include Mico the Best, Safi Madiba, Bruce Melodie, Jay Polly, Miss Jolly Mutesi, AMA G the Black, among others. In its second phase, according to the statement, major activities that will be conducted during this campaign include roadshows, early TB screening services, call to compliance to TB treatment and education on the risk of stop taking treatment. Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre hailed the initiative and said that it is expected to be greatly impactful. “This is a good initiative we have with these ambassadors. This initiative is there to promote good health as we chose to start with infectious diseases including TB. We also thank these young musicians who are pioneering in this activity because they possess an influence on a lot of people,” Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana told The New Times. In Rwanda, the fight against TB has been fairly successful over the years as the World Health Organization TB global reports indicate that the incidence (new TB cases) decreased by 38% from 96/100.00 population in 2000 to 59/100.000 population in 2018. However, multi-sectoral collaboration is still needed towards the end TB targets in 2035, according to health sector officials.
