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South Africa: TB Crisis Plan Rolled Out By Gauteng Health
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BuaNews (Tshwane)
14 July 2008
Posted to the web 14 July 2008
Gabi Khumalo
Johannesburg
The Gauteng Department of Health is to roll out a Tuberculosis (TB) Crisis Plan to identified districts in the province in an effort to intensify the TB campaign to eradicate the disease.
Speaking to BuaNews, departmental spokesperson Zanele Mngadi said despite the fact that the TB cure rates in Gauteng increased from 65 percent in 2006 to 74 percent in 2000, the department regarded the prevalence of TB as a crisis in the province.
She said the department would implement the plan, to help manage and reduce infections, in Johannesburg before rolling it to other districts.
The plan includes door-to-door campaigns and events aimed at creating awareness as well as to cure TB patients telling their stories to communities.
Talks will also be held in the waiting areas of clinics and hospitals, where posters and pamphlets will be distributed.
Ms Mngadi said the department would also strengthen the Directly Observed Treatment programme where people are assisted in taking their medication and encouraged to stop once they are completely cured.
A tracer project was launched where health workers are dispersed in communities to identify treatment defaulters to get them back on track before they develop Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) and Extreme Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB).
The department also sends health personnel on courses in order to empower their staff with the necessary skills to fight the disease.
Tabling the department's R14 billion budget last month, Health MEC Brian Hlongwa said that the department was making measurable progress in increasing the TB cure rate but still fell shy of the national target of 85 percent.
"The challenges posed by the MDR and XDR strains of TB have had a major impact on the day-to-day management of the disease," Mr Hlongwa said at the time.
During the State of the Nation Address in February, President Thabo Mbeki called for the intensified implementation of the National Strategic Plan against HIV and AIDS.
He also called for a reduction in the defaulter rates from 10 percent to seven percent.
Speaking at the Social Sector Cluster briefing in May, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the department was working on achieving these targets through the establishment of TB tracer teams and the training of 3000 health personnel in the management of this disease.
She said a total of 72 tracer teams had been established in all nine provinces.
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"Each team comprises a healthcare worker, two community health workers and a data capturer. In addition, 122 healthcare workers were trained on MDR-TB management in the past two months."
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