Pretoria - South Africa will today join the international community in commemorating World Tuberculosis (TB) Day.
The day is an opportunity for affected persons and the communities in which they live, governments, civil society organisations, health care providers and international partners to call for further action to reach people who have been infected with TB.
In commemorating the day, the South African government, led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, will launch a massive national TB screening campaign in Kanana near Klerksdorp in the North West.
This lifelong campaign will mobilise all South Africans, particularly mining communities, inmates at correctional facilities and early childhood development (ECD) centres, to be screened and tested for TB.
South Africa will mark the day under the theme ‘Ending South Africa’s TB epidemic: Accelerating our Response in Key Populations’. It aims to raise awareness and knowledge of TB in communities.
In addition, childhood TB will also receive special attention, especially among children attending ECD centres
TB Day on 24 March commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis - TB bacillus.
At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.
South Africa is one of the countries with the highest burden of TB, with World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics giving an estimated incidence of 500 000 cases of active TB in 2011.
About 1% of the population of about 50 million develop active TB disease each year.
This is worldwide the third highest incidence of any country after India and China, and the incidence has increased by 400% over the past 15 years.
Out of the 500 000 cases in South Africa, it is estimated by WHO that about 330 000 (66%) people have both HIV and TB infection.
However in the past five years, great strides have been made to strengthen government’s strategies for TB control with increased screening and testing, especially through the HIV counselling and testing campaign.
Screening and testing has been further boosted by the introduction of the rapid diagnostic tests for TB and drug resistant TB. - SAnews.gov.za
