Page 54 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

In Zambia, for example, the high prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis co-infection can lead to nurses

(particularly those who are HIV-positive) being reluctant to treat patients with tuberculosis

because of the real risk of infection.

Efforts to reduce risks to nurses and patients include providing treatment on an outpatient basis,
especially in urban areas of the country, reducing congestion at health centers, ensuring an

uninterrupted provision of supervised chemotherapy, and the reduction of health workers’

workload.

2.8 Other actual and potential health crises

2.8.1 Tuberculosis (TB)

Tuberculosis (TB) is a continuing health concern across the globe.

According to the World Health Organization’s 2005 survey, there were 15.4 million cases of the
disease in 2003, 8.8 million of which were new cases.

Of those 8.8 million, 674,000 were also infected with HIV.

An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2003, including 229,000 people co-infected with

HIV, and two million are thought to have died in 2002.

In 2004 there were an estimated 8.9 million new cases; a further 1.7 million people died of the

disease. The increasing HIV epidemic in eastern Europe and in China will also increase the number
of people with TB resulting from HIV infection.

TB is currently a major cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS.

Nurses working in primary care roles are often the first to identify and manage suspected
communicable diseases. In some settings, TB programmers can be led by nurses who are in a key

position to advocate for TB control programmers.

51 Academic Year 2025/2026