Johnathan Paoli
THE Department of Health has confirmed that the country’s ongoing efforts to respond to Tuberculosis (TB) have been strengthened by a recent funding of $94 million for the next five years.
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla was addressing South Africa’s commemorations for World TB Day on Sunday in Sedibeng, which is being observed under the theme: “Yes! You and I Can End TB” and said that as government, he welcomed the support from the Global Fund and the US government and appreciated their continued support towards HIV, TB and sexually transmitted diseases response.
“Just over R4 billion was budgeted in the 2024/2025 financial year, meeting the projected needs for implementing the National Strategic Plan (NSP). Seventy-one percent of the TB budget is from domestic sources, 21% from Global Fund and 8% from United States government commitments,” Phaahla said.
The Minister said that the TB Programme of the National Department of Health has developed a comprehensive TB Recovery Plan dashboard, which is used by provinces and districts to monitor the progress of the TB programme; as well as developing an HIV and TB dashboard in the Health Information Centre.
Phaahla described the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Situation Room as a state-of the-art data consolidation and visualisation hub built at the SANAC offices in Pretoria but can be accessed virtually from anywhere in the world, and that in light of the enormous quantity of data that is generated in many parts and entities of the country, and which exists in silos and that fragmentation is due to the lack of a central data repository and management point.
“This has made monitoring and evaluation of the country’s efforts against HIV, TB and STIs rather difficult. These new data visualisation dashboards have been set up precisely to address that challenge,” the Minister said.
Although South Africa remains among the high TB burden countries, there has been notable progress in the country’s fight against the disease.
The Minister said a steady decline has been noted in the number of people diagnosed with TB each year since 2007 where the figure was 644 000 compared to 280 000 in 2022 and that TB-related deaths were falling, but at a much slower rate.
At last year’s commemoration South Africa launched the NSP for HIV, TB and STIs for the period 2023 to 2028 with ambitious targets for TB and the other two epidemics.
The Minister said that his department developed a TB Strategic Plan, outlining actions that must be taken to address the TB specific challenges which is fully aligned with the NSP for HIV, TB and STIs and will inform the content of the annual TB Recovery Plans for the period 2023 to 2027.
“The successful implementation of the NSP relies on several critical enablers such as the proper implementation of the National TB Recovery Plan, which is one of the tools we have to mitigate against the impact of COVID-19 on the national TB programme.
“We must scale up the implementation, use, and rapid uptake of new tools and innovations – these include GeneXpert; shorter and oral regimens for drug-resistant TB, as well as routine testing of TB contacts and at-risk populations,” the Minister said.
He said the collective counter-response to TB must focus on strengthening early case detection through targeted testing initiatives, particularly among vulnerable populations like men; and that there has been a demonstrable will and desire by the government to use all innovations and technology to confront the challenges.
The Minister said the introduction of the new World Health Organization (WHO) approved Rapid Diagnostic tests for TB dates back to as early as 2010 and the department was looking forward to targeted new generation sequencing.
“The introduction of new and repurposed TB drugs has helped significantly improve the proportion of cured drug resistant (DR-TB) patients. We have rolled out shorter regimens with better drugs for the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis, with the notable launch of the bedaquiline-pretomanid-linezolid-levofloxacin (BPAL-L) programme in September 2023, that has almost 2,000 patients on a six-month DR-TB regimen,” the Minister said.
South Africa has been part of a vaccine development programme, which is conducted by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The Minister said that this gives his department hope that indeed, TB would effectively be ended, by working with all role players, opinion makers, scientists, academics, politicians, and the general population.
Phaahla was joined by Premier Panyaza Lesufi with MEC Nomantu Nkomo Ralehoko, Mayor Sipho Radebe and MMC Nkubi Mokoena; as well as TB survivors who completed the 6-month BPaL-L treatment programme and were subsequently cured.
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