NAIROBI, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- In the middle of Nairobi's Kibera slums where Elijah Isaboke has lived in a poorly ventilated shanty for many years, toxic fumes, dust and overcrowding have provided a fertile ground for tuberculosis to thrive.

The 42-year-old father of three earned a living through casual jobs until late 2020 when out of the blue, he started experiencing fever, headaches and sweating at night, amid suspicion he had contracted the highly infectious bacterial disease.

Few days later, while on a visit to a government facility in Kibera slums, Isaboke came across an automatic tuberculosis testing (ATS) machine and his curiosity on how it operated led to the discovery of his positive status to the disease.

"For several days, I had severe chest pains, coughing and body aches and during a random visit to e-government services center here in Kibera, I stumbled upon the automatic teller machine, filled my details, had samples tested in a health facility only for the results to read positive," Isaboke told Xinhua during a recent interview.

According to Isaboke, discovering that he had tuberculosis was not earth-shaking, given his pre-existing vulnerabilities that include heavily polluted abodes and workstations.

Immediately after the tuberculosis-causing pathogen was detected in his sputum, Isaboke was placed on a six months treatment regimen involving drugs and nutritional support to hasten the healing process.

He said that soon after the six months lapsed, further tests revealed that the bacteria which causes tuberculosis had been cleared from his body, paving the way for his return to normalcy.

Isaboke credited the automated tuberculosis testing machine for quick discovery of the disease that affected his respiratory tract, and the intensive treatment regime that followed.

Sponsored by the Global Fund through its local implementing partner, Amref Health Africa, the automated tuberculosis testing machine is a novel innovation that has revolutionized the management of the disease in the urban hotspots.

Anne Munene, a project officer at Amref Health Africa in Kenya said the automated TB testing machine was conceived out of the need to mobilize low-income urban communities to test for the disease due to their vulnerability.

Munene said that the Global Fund requested local partners to explore innovative ways to scale up TB testing among the underserved as part of efforts to boost its elimination in Kenya.

"We encouraged our implementing partners to participate in an innovation challenge and that is how the ATS machine was conceived. It has improved TB testing in regions with high population density within Nairobi," said Munene.

According to Munene, ATS machines that have been installed in five sites within Nairobi had from November 2019 to May 2021 screened 85,000 people out of which 262 turned positive and were put on treatment.

She said the innovation aims to narrow the 40 percent gap in TB screening and treatment nationally, adding that its availability in Nairobi's informal settlements is expected to reduce caseload and fatalities.

Violet Chemesunde, a community health volunteer attached to the ATS machine in Kibera said that on any given day, the number of people keen to undergo TB screening has been trending upward.

"It is understandable when a large number of people turn up for testing at this machine since Kibera is an informal settlement where TB is endemic due to unhygienic living conditions," said Chemesunde.

She said that the innovation provided a viable alternative to TB patients who feared visiting a health facility to test for the disease at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Chemesunde, mobilization by community health workers has led to a surge in the number of Kibera residents turning up at the ATS machine to undergo TB diagnosis.

But for Claire Kimani, a 24-year-old nursing major with a bias on infectious diseases, a visit to the ATS machine was informed by a desire to be reassured of her TB negative status.

Kimani, a nursing intern attached to a public health facility said novel innovations for testing tuberculosis should be scaled up countrywide, to hasten progress toward its elimination by 2035.

"Am persuaded to believe that once TB testing and treatment innovations are widely available in the disease hotspots like slums and some rural areas, the country would achieve the envisaged elimination target by 2035," said Kimani.

Kenya is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as among 30 high burden TB states, recording over 85,000 cases annually even as the disease remains the fourth leading cause of deaths in the East Africa's largest economy.

According to the Ministry of Health, Nairobi accounts for 13 percent of the TB burden in the country, thanks to overcrowding and environmental pollution. Enditem

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