The forum was informed of the causes, symptoms and treatment of TB in adult and child patients, as well as TB implications for persons living with HIV. Mrs. Monaheng welcomed everyone to the national forum in Maseru at Maseru Sun conference hall. She called upon the first representative to the platform to give a presentation on the subject.

The Ministry of Health representative thanked Letsema for the opportunity and sank right away into the topic of the day. Her presentation was mainly focused on TB. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection, primarily in the lungs caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is spread usually from person to person by breathing infected air during close contact. Unfortunately, TB can remain in an inactive state for years without causing symptoms or spreading to other people.

When the immune system of a patient with dormant TB is weakened, the TB can become active and cause infection in the lungs or other parts of the body. With TB, she said the  most common symptoms and signs of TB are fatigue, fever, weight loss, coughing, and night sweats.

The diagnosis of TB involves skin tests, chest-rays, sputum analysis (smear and culture), and PCR tests to detect the genetic material of the causative bacteria.

Inactive tuberculosis may be treated with an antibiotic, isoniazid (INH), to prevent the TB infection from becoming active.

The risk factors for acquiring TB include close contact situations, alcohol and drug abuse. The presenter gave a few obvious examples of how TB can easily spread, the unventilated hall that the forum was held in, no windows, and one exit/entrance. She said if one of the participants had TB, the rest of the people are at risk if the TB is active. The other norm in Lesotho which very bad is spitting in public, coughing and covering with bare hands, then after shaking hands with people and spread it .

A number of concerns were raised by the participants, one of the participants said in some communities, people see TB as something to do with witchcraft and treat it not in medical ways but in traditional healing manners and another participant asked a question, he said: ‘’some people in the villages look after their sick siblings or children with less or no medical experience. And they cannot ignore their children or siblings when being sick because they are afraid to contract TB or HIV, how are they to go about this?’’ the presenter responded to the concerns and said face masks and gloves are very essential to have. She advised that it is very important for every household or organizations to have gloves, masks and first aid kit available. The last question on TB was how do people access testing and treatment for TB. Testing and treatment is done at Queen Mamohato Hospital in Lepereng for free but in private clinics and hospitals it paid for. However one needs to have a booklet to track and this is paid for.

The second presenter gave a presentation on common illnesses in children, saying it is normal for a child to have eight or more colds a year. This is because there are hundreds of different cold viruses and young children have no immunity to any of them as they’ve never had them before. Gradually they build up immunity and get fewer colds. Her presentation included methods of how to ease the symptoms in children

• Increase the amount of fluid your child normally drinks. .
• If your child has a fever, pain or discomfort, paracematol or ibuprofen can help. There are special products for children. It will state on the packet how much you should give children of different ages.
• Encourage the whole family to wash their hands regularly to stop the cold spreading.

Looking at the time of season now, Health and wellbeing was very critical to address it to the Letsema members and will run till the end of May 2012

For actual presentations please visit the Letsema web: http://www.letsema.org/category/library/.

Mrs. Lipholo is grateful of Letsema to have brought Autism Lesotho to Semonkong to present about autism and give advice on how to support children living with Autism. She said Autism causes children to experience the world differently from the way most other children do. It’s hard for children with autism to talk with other people and express themselves using words. Children who have autism usually keep to themselves and many can’t communicate without special help.

They also may react to what’s going on around them in unusual ways. Normal sounds may really bother someone with autism — so much so that the person covers his or her ears. Being touched, even in a gentle way, may feel uncomfortable.

Children with autism often can’t make connections that other children make easily. For example, when someone smiles, you know the smiling person is happy or being friendly. But a child with autism may have trouble connecting that smile with the person’s happy feelings.

A child who has autism also has trouble linking words to their meanings. Imagine trying to understand what your mom is saying if you didn’t know what her words really mean. It is doubly frustrating then if a child can’t come up with the right words to express his or her own thoughts. Mrs. Lipholo gave  tips on how to care for a child after  she took in  questions about the condition. Some of the participants associated Autism with HIV or witchcraft.  She advised that parents should begin keeping a  journal about a child, Understand fixations, in order for them to help their children grow well, additionally  Understanding  the use of visual stimuli’s. By doing all these, it will help them know and understand their children better and even when seeking professional helps that their behavior is documented

A presenter from JTC gave a background of JTC and what it does. Juvenile training Centre (JTC) Is a detention facility for children in conflict with the law aged between 14 to 17 years. JTC is the only detention facility in the country which is based in Maseru. It is  under the rules and regulations of the Lesotho Correctional Service and guided the Convention on the Rights Of The Child (CRC) and the recent Child Protection and Welfare Act of 2011(CPWA 2011). A child may stay at the centre for a period not exceeding 3 years. Only children sent by the courts of the law are admitted into JTC. The centre has 3 dormitories with a capacity of 20 children per dormitory. On admission, children are classified according to age. Children, who have stayed for a period of 9 months and above, may be eligible for parole.  Parole, a method of reintegration of a child to their communities may be granted only after a child has gone through the rehabilitation processes also termed the rehabilitation path; namely initial interviews, second interviews, home interviews and victim offender mediation. The programs offered at the centre are: Swimming, Tailoring, Handicrafts, Poultry Project and Hiking.

The participants were very pleased to be enlightened with some of the norms they do which they consider culture and rightful. However, it still remains a challenge to them how some of these norms will be handled seeing as how it has become their way of living. This is where OVC Service providers and fellow communities have  to work in collaboration to solve the challenges they meet.

Objective:

Review Letsema 2011 activities

Objective:

Feedback on the effectiveness of the Child and Welfare Act (2011)

Downloads:

Filename.pdf [245k]

Objective:

Understand the implications of the Act for children living with mental & physical challenges

Objective:

Engage with the Act in relation to protection of children in conflict with the Law (delinquency)
Use case studies to identify probable measures of deterring children from engaging in crime