Adult men appear to be the main source of tuberculosis infections in Kenya, according to health officials.
Data from health facilities also indicates adult men have double the rate of TB infections, compared to women.
The latest findings shared by the Ministry of Health showed infections are equal among boys and girls. However, between ages 25 and 44, the cases in men doubled compared to women.
Nkirote Mwirigi from the National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Lung Disease Programme said, “Sixty nine per cent of the notified cases aged 25-44 were males.”
She spoke on Thursday in Nairobi at a media briefing organised by the African Institute for Development Policy and the Media for Environment, Science Health and Agriculture organisation.
“Understanding the source of TB infections is critical to controlling transmission and directing prevention and treatment efforts,” said Nkirote, the national coordinator of the public-private collaborations, human rights and gender at NTLLD.
Prof Jeremiah Chakaya, CEO of the Respiratory Society of Kenya, said the reason men contract TB more is largely uncertain, but is thought to be more biological rather than gendered.
The sex bias is not unique to Kenya but has been reported in other countries.
Prof Chakaya said men also have poorer treatment outcomes compared to women.
“In young age, TB infections are equal until puberty when boys get more infected until after 60 years when the infections converge again. This is different from gendered aspects, it's probably biological. The difference isn’t big, maybe 1.5 times higher overall in men,” he said.
The bulk of TB is transmitted by men partly because they take too long to seek care and have poor adherence, he said.
Prof Chakaya noted that until 2021, TB was the single biggest cause of death from a single germ until Covid-19 came.
“From now we suspect TB will continue to be the biggest cause of death from a single pathogen for many years to come,” he said.
Dr Leyla Abdullahi, a senior research and policy analyst at Afidep said there is evidence men have poor health-seeking behaviour.
“Men’s poor success with health services has been attributed to several factors including social and cultural norms, stigma, men forgoing care to work and provide for their families and lack of awareness about TB,” she said.
Dr Lorraine Mugambi-Nyamboga from the Centre for Health Solutions said the prevalent belief that all TB patients have HIV is fuelling stigma.
“But our studies show at least 80 per cent of TB patients in Kenya are HIV negative,” he said.
Data from the Ministry of Health reveals that Kenya has made progress in trying to reduce the TB burden and TB-related deaths.
Kenya has been able to reduce deaths caused by TB by about 44 per cent from 33,000 in 2019 to 21,000 by 2021.
The country has also managed to reduce new infections and become one of the few countries that managed to meet the targets that had been set for 2020 and 2022.
However, despite the progress, Kenya is still ranked high among the 30 countries that contribute to 80 per cent of the global TB burden and is ranked fourth in Africa after South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Similarly, Kenya still faces the challenge of getting everybody who has been infected with TB going for diagnosis and being put on treatment, with about 49 per cent of people who have TB still walking in the streets without having been diagnosed and being treated.
Awareness about the disease is still low with the country now being challenged to invest in TB awareness especially at community level to make as one of the preventive measures.
“Prevention means that we have created awareness among the population, we have told them what they need to do about prevention so that we can reduce new infections,” National Coordinator Stop TB Partnership Kenya Everlyn Kibuchi said.
