{"id":37323,"date":"2022-09-19T19:08:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T19:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus"},"modified":"2022-09-19T19:27:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T19:27:31","slug":"organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus","title":{"rendered":"Organisations launch campaign to fight tetanus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Ms Oliver Bukirwa, a resident of Zana in Wakiso District, is struggling to raise Shs200 million to clear the medical bill for her son who spent 60 days in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a private health facility while suffering from tetanus.<\/p>\n

She said her nine-year-old son Umar Muwonge contracted tetanus in October last year when he was playing with his siblings. Ms Bukirwa told this publication last week that Muwonge stepped on a rusted nail and got injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was staying with my mother and it was during Covid-19 lockdown. They went to the nearby clinic where they washed the wound and bandaged it. They didn\u2019t know that he had contracted tetanus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to the mother, the boy was not given any injection for tetanus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was brought back home and they told me he was injured but his wound was healing. He could even jump around yet the tetanus virus was in his body,\u201d Ms Bukirwa said.<\/p>\n

Later, he started experiencing pain and soon he couldn\u2019t bend his legs and breathe well. He also developed a fever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen his condition deteriorated, we took him to St Francis Hospital, Nsambya, where we spent three days. We were referred to TMR International Hospital in Naalya where he was admitted in ICU,\u201d Ms Bukirwa said.<\/p>\n

The family said they came to Mulago Hospital around October but there was no space because of Covid-19 patients. That was the time the country was experiencing the second wave of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis chest appeared to come outside and he was like a lame person. But the care was very expensive because the hospital charged us Shs3.5 million per day. We spent 60 days in ICU and the total charge was Shs235 million,\u201d Ms Bukirwa said.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe boy is now fine. I have sold all that I can to clear the bill but I have failed to get Shs200 million. The hospital wants me to clear the bill this year but I am stuck. The hospital treated him even when we didn\u2019t have money.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Muwonge is not the only person affected. Mr Kenneth Mwehonge, the executive director of HEPS Uganda, an NGO which has partnered with Nation Media Group and the Health ministry to do a campaign on tetanus on Friday, said another family lost two children to the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn July 27, a mother lost two children aged 13 and 15 to tetanus at Kibuli Hospital. The two stepped on broken glass while playing,\u201d Mr Mwehonge said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cDue to less awareness about the disease and the required booster jabs, the family members first suspected witchcraft when symptoms started manifesting. By the time they took them to the hospital, it was too late. The second child died minutes after the burial of his sibling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHEPS Uganda and the Stop Tetanus Club are launching a month-long awareness campaign on tetanus vaccination. The campaign is inspired by the recurrent preventable deaths resulting from tetanus despite the government\u2019s tireless vaccination efforts against the disease,\u201d Mr Mwehonge said.<\/p>\n

Dr Hellen Aanyu, acting deputy director of Mulago Hospital, said the most obvious symptom of tetanus is the abnormal movement of the muscles which is termed spasms. She said the other symptom is fever.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor one to get tetanus, the germ should enter the body and it is through an opening onto the skin like a wound, prick or umbilical cord,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cTetanus also affects the jaw area. There is stiffness, so the patient can\u2019t open their mouth. There is also stiffening of different parts of the body because of the abnormal movement of the muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The targeted groups for tetanus vaccination are children who get their vaccine at 6, 10 and 14 weeks.<\/p>\n

Women of childbearing age (15 to 45 years) are also vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was mainly to protect the newborn babies because it is very easy for them to contract tetanus because of our practices when the baby is born. The challenge is that outside those groups, those who are not vaccinated are now getting the disease,\u201d Dr Aanyu said.<\/p>\n

The expert said even for young children who are vaccinated, the protection lasts for around seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means they need to get a booster at least every 10 years. Usually, once you get an injury, they can inject you with the vaccine but if you got the injury and the tetanus bacteria at the same time, the vaccine may not help you because immunity builds up with time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Allan Muruta, the commissioner for Epidemics at the Health ministry, said people should get booster doses to minimise the risk of getting the disease.<\/p>\n

He said many women still deliver in unhygienic conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some practices where we put soil and cow dung in the umbilical cord and yet they store the bacteria,\u201d Mr Muruta said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Ms Oliver Bukirwa, a resident of Zana in Wakiso District, is struggling to raise Shs200 million to clear the medical bill for her son who spent 60 days in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a private health facility while suffering from tetanus. She said her nine-year-old son Umar Muwonge contracted tetanus in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-37323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nOrganisations launch campaign to fight tetanus - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ms Oliver Bukirwa, a resident of Zana in Wakiso District, is struggling to raise Shs200 million to clear the medical bil ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Organisations launch campaign to fight tetanus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ms Oliver Bukirwa, a resident of Zana in Wakiso District, is struggling to raise Shs200 million to clear the medical bil ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-19T19:08:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-19T19:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_16-6328c28661575.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1401\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Organisations launch campaign to fight tetanus\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-19T19:08:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-19T19:27:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\"},\"wordCount\":822,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_16-6328c28661575.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/organisations-launch-campaign-to-fight-tetanus\",\"name\":\"Organisations launch campaign to fight tetanus - 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