Makerere opens first lung institute in East Africa
Jun 03, 2019
The institute which is the second in the whole of Africa next to the Lung Institute of the University of Cape Town is aimed at addressing lung-related diseases which are now posing a big burden to Ugandans.
HEALTH
The first lung institute in East Africa has been opened at Makerere University School of public health located at Mulago Hospital.
The institute which is the second in the whole of Africa next to the Lung Institute of the University of Cape Town is aimed at addressing lung-related diseases which are now posing a big burden to Ugandans.
Making the fourth institute at Mulago National Referral Hospital from the Heart Institute, Cancer Institute, and the Infectious Disease Institute, the lung institute will specifically be addressing Asthma, Tuberculosis (TB) and chronic Obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD).
The health minister Jane Ruth Aceng while officiating at the launch of the institute said the institute has already contributed too immensely in generating the research evidence needed to understand the burden of the different lung diseases in the country.
"Many of our people suffer from Asthma, TB, chronic obstructive pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and lung cancer and thousand die from these diseases, "explained Aceng.
She said the institute has set up specialized lung clinic which has already benefited many people.
"This will reduce the number of our people who seek treatment abroad at colossal costs, "she said.
She highlighted that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) now account to 50% of the burden of diseases in Uganda noting that the recent report of the World Health Organisation has shown that NCDs are the largest cause of productivity losses in Africa currently.
She Added, "Chronic lung diseases such as Asthma and COPD are among the major non-communicable diseases besides hypertension, diabetes, and cancer.
The control and prevention of NCDs is now a top priority of our Ministry".
She called upon the academic and research institutions to conduct research into areas of preventive health delivery systems saying under vision 2040 the ministry will improve the health conditions of Ugandan population through household-based health delivery systems.
Aceng also asked the directors of the institute to second doctors to the specialist clinic, provision of essential respiratory medicines to the clinics to reduce the costs of care.
She also called for incorporating lung health module in training curricula of all health training programs.
The director of the institute Bruce Kirenga said the idea to start the institute dwelled on the fact that there were a high number of people with lung diseases in the community and medical clinics.
He explained that ever since the institute was started, quality data on the burden of lung diseases in Uganda has been accumulated.
"We now know that from the National TB Survey, 86,000 people suffer from TB each year,4,628.400 people suffer from Asthma, 1,920,000 suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) while 175.241 people die from Asthma, 211,200 die from COPD and 11,000 die from TB each year, "he explained.
He reported that although the number of people who suffer from lung cancer is not known, the data from clinics shows that lung cancer is the fastest increasing cancer of all forms of cancer in Uganda.
"It indicates that 92% of the lung cancer patients have advanced cancer at level four and only 15% remain alive one year later, "he said.
He revealed that direct and indirect economic costs due to lung diseases are catastrophic with half of the TB patients in Uganda suffering catastrophic expenditures where they, spend more than 20% of their annual household incomes on TB treatment despite free medical treatment in public health facilities.
Dr. Kirenga decried the lack of lung health experts called the Pulmonologists in addition to the lack of some of the lung diseases medicine within health facilities.
‘The survey we conducted established that only 26% of public hospitals had salbutamol inhaler (Ventolin) which is the most basic and essential Asthma medication whereas some medicines which are no longer recommended for use in treating lung diseases, can still be found in some health facilities, "he said.
The Deputy Vice-chancellor Makerere University Prof.William Bazeyo pledged to continue supporting the institute including procuring the best equipment.
Dr. Doreen Male the deputy Director Mulago National Referral Hospital applauded the Makerere collaborators towards extending support unlimitedly.