Qinisela
AQUITY in collaboration with Janssen recently launched a pilot campaign in the Eastern Cape called Qinisela, a Paeditriac TB prevention campaign aimed at diagnosing and treating TB and Multi Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) in children.
“There is limited data on the prevalence of drug-resistance in African children with tuberculosis” says Dr Sipho Nyathi, Director of Health Programs at AQUITY. “TB diagnostics and treatment in children poses particular challenges and data on the management of MDR-TB in children is scarce. Children acquire drug-resistant TB typically from an adult index case. This is why as AQUITY Innovations we have decided to get involved in the diagnosing and managing of MDR-TB in children in South Africa starting with the Eastern Cape.”
The AQUITY health care team, led by AQUITY’s – Paediatric nurse Sr Nonkululeko Mshweshwe together with Community Health Care workers at Care Ministries, have been conducting a door to door TB testing campaign, visiting different families within the Nelson Mandela Bay Disctrict, in the Eastern Cape communities.
Through these screening visits, families with young children are taught about TB prevention and treatment, and with the consent from the parents, tests are conducted on the children, followed up with tests results and treatment management for any diagnosed cases.
The main objectives of the Qinisela campaign is to:
- Increase the number of children accessing paediatric DR TB care
- Improve quality of care of paediatric DR TB patients
- Monitor adverse events amongst children accessing care
Qinisela aims to help many young children and families to #BreatheEasy and #BeatTB, because with early prevention and treatment management, TB is curable.
The name Qinisela is derived from isiZulu meaning perseverance, which inspires one to be resilient. This is the type of encouragement AQUITY aims to instill in families with children affected by TB, to encourage them to stay the course and complete their treatments.