South Africa was taking decisive measures to control tuberculosis and malaria, according to health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Addressing parliamentary correspondents, the minister said she would wait for the outcome of a forensic audit of the SA National Tuberculosis Association (SANTA) before deciding whether the department should investigate individual TB hospitals.

She said they were closing one hospital in the Eastern Cape “because of its bad condition” as well as suspending funds to SANTA’€™s Betterment and Community Service because there was an indication that this money was not going into targeted services.

Another challenge was the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB, “which represents the legacy of poor treatment practices from the past”.

Tshabalala-Msimang revealed that a national survey of TB drug resistance had been conducted to better understand the magnitude of this problem.

The minister identified Malaria as another major challenge with 10 percent of the population living in what is called malaria risk areas.

Malaria cases have increased steadily in the country since 1996 with the highest number of cases reported at 61 447 in the 1999/2000 malaria season.

However, with the re-introduction of DDT and the investment of an additional R39-million into the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative, cases in the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal were reduced by 70 percent.

The development initiative also led to a substantial decrease in malaria cases in Swaziland and Mozambique.

Tshabalala-Msimang said the successes in KwaZulu-Natal led to a decision to introduce DDT for malaria control in Mpumalanga and the Northern Province.

“I would like to assure you that we are using the insecticide with much care to ensure that there is no threat to the environment,” she said. ‘€“ Health-e News Service