Background

The aim of this unit is to teach participants about the medicines used to treat tuberculosis (TB) patients and the side effects they may cause. Accompagnateurs will learn how to talk to members of their community about the importance of treatment.

Objectives

By the end of the unit, participants will be able to:

1. Explain when to take tuberculosis (TB) medicine, how much, and how often for treating active and inactive TB.
2. Discuss the importance of adherence to TB medicine and the danger of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) as a consequence of non-adherence.
3. Explain the complicating factors that arise when a patient has both HIV and TB.
4. Describe the accompagnateur’s role in helping patients take their TB medicine and provide support and counseling for HIV-positive patients with TB.
5. Recognize urgent side effects to TB medicines that need immediate medical attention at the clinic.
6. Recognize non-urgent side effects of TB medicines that need medical attention at the clinic within a week.
7. Recognize normal side effects of TB medicines that do not need medical attention.

Time Required

2 hours, 35 minutes

Unit Overview

Key Points

• People must take medicine for many months if they have TB.
  
• TB can become resistant to medicine if patients do not take it correctly, so it is very important that patients not miss any pills and not stop taking their medicine early.
  
• Patients may experience side effects to TB medicine.
  
• Every day, accompagnateurs should ask patients how they are feeling. Every week, they should ask patients if they are experiencing any side effects, asking specific questions about relevant symptoms.
  
• If patients have urgent side effects, they should go to the clinic immediately.
  
• If patients have non-urgent side effects, they should go to the clinic within one week.
  

Download Files

To use this unit, you may download any or all of the four components:

• Facilitators' Manual (pdf) - English (3.8 MB) | Kinyarwanda (3.63 MB) | Kreyol (5.22 MB) | Sesotho (5.2 MB)
• Participants' Handbook (pdf) - English (3.5 MB) | Kinyarwanda (2.58 MB) | Kreyol (2.96 MB) | Sesotho (3.13 MB)
  
• Visual Aid (Powerpoint/pdf) - English [Flipchart (1.5 MB) / Slides (11 MB) | Kinyarwanda (1.2 MB) | Kreyol (3.13 MB) | Sesotho (890.52 KB)
• Visual Aid Notes (Powerpoint) - Kinyarwanda (666.4 KB) | Kreyol (893.36 KB) | Sesotho (609.59 KB)