Activists hold state to account
TB ACTIVISTS throughout South Africa have used World TB Day on Sunday as a platform to criticise the government for neglecting its duty to prioritise tuberculosis and for insufficient efforts in delivering TB services.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and TB Accountability Consortium (TBAC) expressed their concern and urged the government to empower the National TB Programme to effectively execute the country’s TB strategies and protocols.
According to Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) communications officer Palesa Chidi, while some gains have been made, it was also important for the government to be more transparent and accountable for tuberculosis treatment.
“Our organisations have called on the national government to declare TB a national health emergency, and to give the disease the priority it deserves.”
She said that despite the disease being treatable, TB remains South Africa’s biggest killer, with more than 54000 people dying annually – 31 000 of them are people living with HIV, and an estimated 280 000 infected each year.
At the official World TB Day celebration in Evaton, north of Sebokeng, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said although the nation had achieved progress with its TB initiatives, there were still challenges.
He emphasised the importance of locating TB patients and closing the detection gap in terms of male-friendly services.
TBAC programme manager, Russell Rensburg, said: “We have this constitutional right of the right to health care, the obligation is to progressively realise and with progressive realisation, we have to start with the people with the least access.”
TAC chairperson, Sibongile Tshabalala, said access to TB services is a realisation of the right to health enshrined in the Constitution and in the National Health Act.
In the memorandum that the organisations handed to the Health Department, there were four key requests:
1. Safeguard TB funding. The government possesses powers to ring-fence funding allocations, including the TB Recovery Plan.
2. Enhance accountability. The government has to refocus its constitutional obligations by progressively realising the right to health for all.
3. Strengthen bi-directional decisionmaking by ensuring that communities are in the rooms where decisions are made. Let the data be available for communities affected.
4. Strengthen political will. The deputy president as the chairperson of Sanac must provide effective political leadership to ensure that Suth Africa’s National Strategic Plan is a living document so we can meet our targets for HIV and TB treament.