The mass TB and leprosy is moving into its final weeks with close to 70 percent of Majuro’s population tested. Important developments for the screening program include:
• School screening centers at RES and DES have now been shut down with school back in session. The downtown screening center has been relocated to Youth to Youth in Health in Uliga.
• Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health and Human Services opened a screening center at Laura Health Center that is overseeing TB/leprosy screening for the Ajeltake to Laura area.
• The ministry has now completed 11 weeks of a planned 14-week program.
• A total of 17,875 have received their initial test and interview out of an estimated population of 27,275. Of those, 14,745 have completed all screening steps.
• The target date for completion of the mass screening is September 15. However, the ministry said it will continue “until completion.”
The number of active cases of TB has risen to 199. Meanwhile, many more are positive for latent (“sleeping”) TB. So far, 3,908 people have been identified with latent TB. Of these, health authorities recommended that 3,562 receive treatment and 94 percent of these have started treatment.
The screening has also found 32 people with leprosy.
Read more about this in the August 31, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.