The Covid pandemic has set back the fight against TB by about 12 years and led to huge reversals in the decline of cases, but South Africa was still on track to meet global targets by 2023.
Speaking at the TB Indaba in Durban this week, national Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the pandemic’s associated lockdowns had meant that between 2019 and 2020, the number of TB tests decreased by 23%, and case notifications by 25%, although there had been some recovery since 2022.
However, a TB recovery plan had been developed to “find people with undiagnosed TB”, encourage them to seek and stay on treatment, and strengthen TB prevention efforts, reports News24.
“The number of GeneXpert tests done in 2019 was just more than 2m. This had dropped to 1.5m in 2020 due to Covid-19 in 2020, but thereafter, 1.9m tests were done in 2021 and 2.5m in 2022,” Phaahla said.
Between 2009 and 2021, the estimated TB incidence decreased from 644 000 to 304 000.
To expedite treatment, the department was also planning the notification to patients of results via SMS, while shortly, new molecular diagnostic tests would be introduced.
If the National Health Insurance legislation were enacted, it would lead to stronger TB and HIV treatment, the Minister said, adding that 2021 estimates suggested South Africa was still on track to meet the WHO’s target of reducing the TB incidence rate by 50% by 2025.
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