KAMPALA – Uganda’s Tuberculosis Ambassador Moses Ssali aka Bebe Cool has on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, met with the Health Minister Dr. Ruth Jane Aceng and her team that included the Commissioner for Health Promotion Dr Richard Kabanda, the Asst. Commissioner also the head of National TB & Leprosy Program Dr Stavia Turyahabwe on how best they can promote TB awareness.
“Together with my team, we made several proposals to the Minister among which is a proposal to cabinet to compel the Electoral Commission to use the coming elections to create awareness about health issues,” said Bebe Cool said through his Facebook page.
Bebe Cool added that “My belief is that hundreds of millions of tax payer’s money is used to conduct elections at all levels but children and those that do not participate in elections, do not benefit from this expenditure. If, however, the electoral commission were to compel every candidate to include health messages on their posters also work with ministry of health to carry out screening activities for different diseases particularly TB. People should not flock campaign rallies merely for political messages but should go back to their homes with a message or two about health. After all, am sure even politicians would love to lead healthy people.”
Minister Aceng said that while most people think a better health care system is about building more health centres, she believes that the prevention of diseases is more important.
“Apparently, 75% of the diseases that disturb Ugandans like Cholera, Malaria, Pneumonia, TB, Diarhorea, HIV/Aids and many more, are all preventable diseases,” she said.
She says if the country focuses more on prevention of these diseases through awareness, then health centres will have less use.
Aceng requested Bebe Cool to focus his awareness efforts on men because they are more susceptible to catching most of these diseases because of their stubbornness to heed to simple health messages like washing hands or going for check-ups.
Earlier in December 2019, Bebe Cool received a grant of close to $400,000 (about Shs1.4b) from donors to help TB patients.
The funding was received under his Amber Heart Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports activities aimed at finding missing TB patients in the districts of Kampala, Jinja and Mbarara.
“I am happy to inform you that I officially received a grant of close to $400,000 USD from Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative at a ceremony that took place in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam. The TB REACH initiative is funded by the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” Bebe Cool wrote on his Facebook page.
