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HomeFocusGovt announces ambitious programme to fight TB

Govt announces ambitious programme to fight TB

An ambitious programme to fight tuberculosis could see every prisoner, mine worker and school child in the country screened for the killer disease in the near future, reports the [s]Sunday Tribune[/s]. Speaking at the closing of the recent [b]South Africa TB Conference[/b], Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi admitted that if the government didn’t move swiftly in scaling up treatment, the mortality rate, which sees at least 148 people die daily due to TB, could spiral further out of control. He also said that if the country’s pace in fighting TB was unchanged, it could take another 170 years to reduce the epidemic. The programme, which would be overseen by the [b]SA National Aids Council[/b] (Sanac), would screen more than 150,000 prisoners, 500,000 miners and 12m school-going children using the new diagnostic tool, [b]GeneXpert[/b]. Motsoaledi also vowed to push for the draft intellectual property legislation, which would make it easy to access generics of potent TB drugs.Earlier, Aids lobby group the [b]Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)[/b] and public interest organisation Section 27 demanded in a memorandum, better and more transparent monitoring of TB in prisons. They also demanded that the [b]Department of Justice and Correctional Services[/b] (DJCS) abide by its own regulations. The report says, historically, several courts have issued stern warnings to Correctional Services that it was failing, for instance, to offer inmates appropriate health care, health education and screenings. Most recently, the [b]Constitutional Court[/b] said that in contesting allegations of poor prison health care, it was ‘defending the indefensible.’

The [b]TAC[/b] and [b]Section 27[/b] have also announced a [b]National Strategic Plan for HIV, STIs and TB[/b] (NSP), which sets goals that are measured against a set of indicators. The [b]NSP Review[/b] has attempted to summarise available data that may be used in tracking SA’s progress towards NSP goals. Their analysis showed much of TB data is outdated or not available. While HIV data is more up to date, there are inconsistencies due to differing data sources. The table also shows significant room for improvement regarding the sharing of existing data by, among others, the [b]National Department of Health[/b] and [b]Sanac[/b].

The head of the University of Cape Town’s pulmonology division, Professor Keertan Dheda, says that there are patients who have incurable and infectious tuberculosis who are being discharged from hospitals, as they cannot be treated. And, says a report in [s]The Times[/s], he has called for a solution for people who may live for years, while inadvertently spreading the untreatable form of TB. He said studies had shown that some patients had TB infections that were resistant to as many as 10 drugs, leaving them with no cure. Dheda said patients suffering from drug-resistant TB at some stage may need spec ialised hospices with staff trained in TB management. ‘I am talking about a modern day sanatorium where spec ialised teams can see to the needs of these patients when the home environment is unsuitable’.

In a bid to address the lack of beds for TB patients, doctors are treating those with the disease in their communities, reports [s]The Times[/s]. This has increased the number of people treated and reduces the cost of treating them – to such an extent that the [b]Health Ministry[/b] wants much more of it done. Under the new policy nurses will be trained in initiating treatment so that patients can stay in their homes. Motsoaledi said that the number of clinics offering antiretroviral drugs was dramatically expanded to more about 3,000 in 2010 and the same would happen with TB treatment.

The good news is that SA is seeing about 18% fewer new TB cases annually, due to the increasing numbers of people living with HIV who are on antiretrovirals (ARVs). [s]Health-e[/s] reports that this is according to research by [b]NCID’s[/b] head of TB, Dr Nazir Ismail. The drop comes after year-on-year increases of TB cases peaked in 2008, a marker of what Ismail called a huge burden of the disease that had spun out of control. However, from 2009 TB cases began to decline. Meanwhile, the number of people tested for TB has risen by 300% since 2004 owing in part to integrated HIV and TB testing conduced as part of the national HIV counselling and testing campaign.

[link url=http://sundaytribune.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/showarticle.aspx?article=76c977d1-3963-4e9d-b99a-b705e2c9bbc8&key=Ts2n9qVctTbKVWgJpeVqKA%3d%3d&issue=70532014061500000000001001]Full Sunday Tribune report[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DCS-TB-HIV-and-STI-Guidelines-2013.pdf]TB HIV and STI Guidelines[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/2014/06/13/thousands-prisoners-may-undiagnosed-tb/]Full Health-e report[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/2014/06/11/analysing-nsp-indicators]Full Health-e report[/link]
[link url=http://www.nspreview.org]NSP Review[/link]
[link url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/06/11/no-cure-for-some-tb-patients]Full report in The Times[/link]
[link url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2014/06/17/better-way-of-treating-tb-found]Full report in The Times[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/2014/06/12/antiretrovirals-credited-tb-decline]Full Health-e report[/link]

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