The breakdown of health services, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of drug resistant strains of Tuberculosis were all factors in worsening the spread of TB, health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said yesterday opening a four day workshop convened by the health department.  

Major players in the fight against TB, including traditional healers, health workers, experts and international donors, will be putting their heads together to develop a Medium Term Development Plan for TB. The plan will include strategies for the prevention, control and management of TB to help South Africa achieve a cure rate of 85% by 2005.

The number of reported TB infections in South Africa has almost doubled from about 62 000 in 1995 to more than 120 000 in 2000. This puts South Africa among 20 countries that carry 80% of the world’s TB burden. Under the auspices of the WHO Stop TB-Initiative, in collaboration with UNAIDS, governments of these 20 countries have committed themselves to meeting the targets set out in the Amsterdam Declaration of March 2000.

At present South Africa has a reporting rate of about 66% and a cure rate of just over 60%. The community-based directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS) has been implemented across the country but if the disease is not properly treated, or treatment is interrupted, the case load will increase along with multi-drug resistant strains of TB that cost tens times more to treat.

Tshabalala-Msimang stressed the need to address TB and HIV infection together: “Remember that TB can be cured, even in the presence of HIV and AIDS. This is a very important fact to recognise in order to take away the doom and gloom from the epidemic and bring hope to those who are suffering from TB,” she said.  

Giving a human face to TB infection, television celebrity Gerry Rantseli spoke about her experience with the disease and the burden of the six-month treatment. “At the moment, all we need as patients, is to know that there is someone there for us. We have done nothing to be ashamed of,” she said.  

“This is a communal disease. If the health department puts in the effort and we get the funding we need, we can manage it,” she said.