R80m injection to help fight TB infections
THE provincial Health Department has received a R80 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for programmes and efforts to see the prevention of Tuberculosis (TB) in the province.
The announcement was shared on World TB Day, commemorated at the Brooklyn Chest Hospital, Ysterplaat, yesterday.
Representatives from the Western Cape government, the City and partners gathered for the official unveiling of a mobile X-ray clinic temporarily stationed at the hospital.
The clinic has been screening individuals for TB since the beginning of the month.
Premier Alan Winde, Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo and Department of Health head Dr Keith Cloete were in attendance.
The three-year programme with the R80m funding will assist in identifying people with TB and connecting them with treatment services.
Similar systems in place for Covid19 will be adapted for TB care.
This includes: medicines distribution, telemedicine, call centres, and client and contact tracing for TB management and response.
Winde and Mbombo participated in a demonstration by the radiographer of the mobile X-ray clinic.
“As much as TB has been there, I don’t think that we have managed to get deeper into it with regard to managing TB completely,” said Mbombo.
Winde said TB test positivity rates in the province increased over the last year, reaching a high of 21% in September.
“This indicates that we were not testing enough people to pick up new TB cases.
“The reality is that the Covid-19 pandemic was a ‘hammer blow’ to our efforts to respond to TB, and we must now step up the fight drastically.”
Family physician at Brooklyn Chest Hospital, Dr Julian te Riele said the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on TB patients and programmes. Chief executive at TB HIV Care Professor Harry Hausler said among the 390000 infected with TB in the country, there were 154 000 undiagnosed and untreated.
“What that means is all of those people are in the community and are infectious and can each infect 10 other people. Because of delaying access to treatment, they become sicker and more likely to die of TB.”