dc.description.abstract | The researchprojectisaimedtowardsestablishingriskfactorsassociatedwiththepreva-
lence oftuberculosis(TB)inNairobiEmbakasi.Thisstudywasconductedonpatients
visiting chestclinicatMamaLucyKibakiTeachingandReferralHospitalwhichisthe
main healthfacilityservingtheEmbakasiareaofNairobiCounty.Tuberculosisisaex-
tremelyinfectiousdiseasewhichisbroughtaboutbyabacteriumcalled Mycobacterium
tuberculosis which usuallyattacksthelungs.Thebacteriumalsohastheabilitytoattack
other partsinthehumanbodysuchasthekidney,liver,brainandthespine.Thehighly
infectiousdiseaseisamajorthreattoworldhealth,thereforeearlymappingofthepossi-
ble cases,quarantiningtheindividualsandofferingthenecessarytreatmentsarethebest
and mosteffectivewaysoflimitingthespreadandincidences.Incomparisonbetweenthe
developedanddevelopingworlds,thedevelopedworldhassuccessfullylimitedthepreva-
lence inthelastfewdecades,thishasbeenachievedthroughearlydiagnosisandtreat-
ments asTBishighlypreventablewithefficientmeasuresinplace(EuropeanRespiratory
Review).Inmostthirdworldcountries,however,thesituationisquiettheoppositeasmost
of thecountriesreportareemergencetrendofactiveTBcases.Thisismostlyassociated
with theSubSaharanregionoftheAfricancontinentwhereSouthAfricaisalsoranked
as oneoftheleadingcountrieswithhighestnumberofinfectionsglobally.Tuberculosisin
Kenyaisamajorburdenbothtothegovernment,societiesanddevelopmentpartnerswho
pump massiveamountofresourcessoastocurtainthespreadandminimizethemortality
rate oftheinfectiousdisease.AccordingtoW.H.OKenyaisranked 13th amongst thethe
22 countrieswhichhasabout80%ofthetotalglobalcasesofTB.Tuberculosisaffectsindi-
viduals ofallagecategoriesandanyoneisatriskofgettinginfected.InKenyamostofthe
cases arereportedbetweentheagegroup15-44yearswhichformstheeconomicallypro-
ductivepartofthepopulation.ThestudywasconductedinMamaLucyKibakiTeaching
and ReferralHospitalwhichislocatedinEmbakasiWestbetweenUmojaIIandKomarock
estates inNairobiEastlandareaandservemajorityofthepopulationwhichliveinthelow
income estateswhicharecharacterizedbypoorsanitationandovercrowding.Thestudy’s
main goalwastoidentifyriskvariablesforforecastingtheincidenceoftuberculosisin-
fectioninthelocality.ThedatarecordsobtainedattheHospitalChestclinicformedthe
sourceofdatausedforthisstudy.InthestudyAlcoholismandcongestionwerethemost
significant factorsfortheprevalenceoftuberculosisinEmbakasi.Theprevalencerateof
tuberculosisamongstthefivesub-countiesofEmbakasiwerefoundtobesimilarfromthe
study lastlythelikelihoodoftuberculosisinEmbakasisub-countieswas4.661timesmore
likely thanthatofthenationalprevalence. | en_US |