The high prevalence of tuberculosis in Makana Municipality has driven the Eastern Cape government to bring its World TB day commemoration programme to Grahamstown in an attempt to reach out to those affected by the disease and educate those who are TB free.
The high prevalence of tuberculosis in Makana Municipality has driven the Eastern Cape government to bring its World TB day commemoration programme to Grahamstown in an attempt to reach out to those affected by the disease and educate those who are TB free.
Eastern Cape Premier, Phumulo Masualle, together with Health MEC Pumza Dyantyi, formed part of a high-powered delegation that addressed Grahamstown residents at the Extension 6 Indoor Sports Centre on Thursday 8 April, during a provincial event to commemorate World TB Day. The programme could not take place on 24 March – which is the actual date of World TB Day – due to the busy Easter Weekend.
The delegation’s visit follows an announcement by the Eastern Cape Aids Council (ECAC) secretariat in connection with the high rate of TB infections in Makana.
These are on the rise, despite the fact that the national infection rate is on the decline, and the most vulnerable are children under four, according to the Council.
Speaking in Joza yesterday Masualle said the Sarah Baartman District Municipality leads the province in TB incidence.
“While this is a huge problem, it presents us with a great opportunity to come up with interventions that could be replicated in the entire Province,” he said.
Masualle said that the problems they have noticed in the past few weeks of interacting with different stakeholders in the district include low TB screening, high TB defaulter rate, high loss of follow-up (people who cannot be traced) and high TB-HIV co-infection.
In his speech, the Premier acknowledged that TB remains the number one killer disease in South Africa in spite of the fact that it's curable. Masualle said of all the deaths reported in the province in 2014 about 32.8% of those cases were attributed to TB and HIV collectively.
“While the government has all the resources to turn around the situation and reduce the TB incidences, this remains elusive as a result of socio-economic factors beyond the immediate reach of the government.”
Speaking to journalists during a press briefing in Grahamstown yesterday Dyantyi said the TB and HIV programme go together.
"[In] my policy and budget speech, we have allocated R8 billion to the programme which is going to be used in awareness programmes and the roll-out of TB medicines and ARVs," Dyantyi said.
Talking about negligence at hospitals Dyantyi said, "We have a zero tolerance for negligence. I said it the first time I spoke as the MEC and I put it forward that we are trying to reach out to the nurses to try and change their attitude and that has helped us, because when you get to facilities people tell us that they do see change," she said. Dyantyi acknowledged that TB goes hand in hand with overcrowding and poverty.
Masualle also urged citizens to play their part in dealing with the problem.
"All the efforts government makes will amount to nothing if there isn't responsiveness on the part of the community. The reason we are here is first to spread the awareness, but also to solicit the response from the community," he said.
Masualle said Finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo has allocated R20 billion during the 2016/17 financial year to the Department of Health to ensure the provision of quality health care services to the people.
"Out of that R20 billion, R4.5 billion will be used for medicines and R6 Billion will be for HIV and AIDS testing and counselling. Part of that budget will go to TB screening and treatment.
Responding to a question about Temba hospital's capacity to deal with the high numbers of infections, Dyantyi said TB treatment can be taken at home.
"And if you have a facility that you run correctly in Grahamstown and you have your awareness programmes [running]correctly, there is no reason why you cannot take care of the population that's around here, so I'm sure that we are on the right track to get people to respond to prevention, because prevention is the word we should spread," she said.
Makana Municipality Mayor, Nomhle Gaga, said they have noticed and welcomed the efforts of the provincial government in trying to curb the high rate of TB infections in Makana. Gaga said they had taken it upon themselves as Makana to try and understand the problem.
Gaga thanked Dyantyi's office and the Sarah Baartman District Municipality for their support.
anele@grocotts.co.za
