People, leaders must roll up sleeves to fight scourge – TAC

ABOUT 1 500 people marched to Parliament yesterday on World TB Day to demand legislative reform to combat a treatable disease that has reached epidemic proportions.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) presented a memorandum of demands to deputy secretary of Parliament Penelope Tyawa, urging various government departments to increase access to tuberculosis treatment, rectify overcrowding in correctional and other public facilities, reform restrictive patent laws that impede medical research and accessibility, and audit all public buildings to ensure sufficient infection control.

“We are calling upon our people and our leaders to roll up their sleeves and take drastic action,” TAC general secretary Anele Yawa said.

According to Statistics South Africa’s report, “Mortality and Causes of Death in South Africa 2013: Findings from death notification”, TB is the leading cause of death, accounting for 8.8 percent of all deaths.

Mthetho Mdekazi said he contracted TB twice while incarcerated, sharing a cell with 60 inmates, and taking up to 18 tablets a day for two years because proper medicine for his strain of drug-resistant TB was denied him.

Phumese Tisile said she received ineffective treatment for drug-sensitive TB for nine months through state care before she was diagnosed with extreme drug-resistant TB, which resulted in her being left deaf.

Yesterday in Joburg musician Johnny Clegg announced a donation of R100 000 to the TAC, as well as plans to host a benefit concert in June to raise R1 million for its TB campaign.