Deputy President Paul Mashatile to lead World TB Day

DEPUTY President Paul Mashatile will lead government, civil organisations and health officials on World TB Day on Friday.

As one of his first roles, Mashatile will commemorate the day at Tlhabane Stadium in Rustenburg, together with the South African National Aids Council (Sanac).

They will be launching the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs.

Mashatile is Sanac chairperson, and last week had his first plenary meeting to pave the way for the plan .

Despite the disease being curable, TB remains a high cause of mortality in the world and in South Africa.

TB remains one of the leading causes of ill health and death globally, with 1.6 people losing their lives in 2020.

With the theme “Yes! We can end TB!”, Mashatile is expected to address about 5 000 people in awareness of the pandemic.

World TB Day is observed annually on March 24, to raise awareness the global epidemic.

Speaking to the yesterday, Sanac CEO Dr Thembi Xulu said the commemoration was to raise awareness on TB while reflecting on the situation of TB, and to prepare an appropriate response to TB in various settings, like prisons and mines.

“There are on-going TB campaigns which are conducted at various levels … civil society, Cheka Impilo, and many others, which culminate in World TB Day and don’t end there … they continue … End TB, Stop TB … local and International campaigns, to include migrant communities and cross-border populations.”

On why so many people lost their lives to TB when it’s curable, Xulu said the country had a high rate of HIV/ Aids, so many people were susceptible.

“HIV/TB co-infection can cause mortality. Education is needed on screening, prevention and treatment.

“A high number of patients are lost to follow up and we are putting lots of effort into finding the missing patients,” she said.

Xulu added that there were glaring challenges where conditions of poverty made it difficult to find TB or inform people about TB .

“Migrants make it difficult to find patients with TB and to sustain them on treatment, because sometimes they are on short-term contracts. They may start TB treatment but not complete it, and then go back home to another province or another country, and not disclose, so they infect their families.

“Men don’t come forward to health facilities, so they are hard to reach.”

Xulu said unemployment and poverty made people more prone to TB because of socio-economic conditions that contribute to TB.

“As we address TB, we need to come up with sustainable solutions for the social circumstances of our people.”

The World Health Organization announced in its report last year that about 6.4 million people across the world were infected with TB in 2021. This was reportedly an increase from 5.8 million reported in the previous year.