Members of the media are invited to join the Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi at a breakfast briefing to discuss issues around TB and HIV ahead of the commemoration of World TB Day on Saturday, 24 March 2012.
The Minister will be joined by his team of TB and HIV technical to provide journalists with insight into the TB Control Response in South Africa and the interventions designed to STOP TB in South African Mines.
Details for the breakfast briefing and mine tour are as follows:
Date: Thursday, 22 March 2012
Time: 08h00 – 10h00
Venue: The Pyramid Conference Centre, 96 Eloff Street Extension, Village Deep, Selby, Johannesburg
Following the breakfast briefing, the media will be taken on a tour of KDC Gold Fields Mine near Carletonville which will end at 13:30.
South Africahas a Tuberculosis (TB) burden ranked third in the world, and is one of the 22 high burden countries that contribute approximately 80% of the total global burden of all TB cases. Mines, particularly those in the gold sector in South Africa have the highest levels of TB infections, along-side significant co-infection rates with HIV. It is for this reason that South Africa’s new National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV and TB, launched by the President on 1 December 2011 has singled out miners among key populations with elevated risks of being infected by TB (and HIV) for dedicated attention.
The TB Control and Management Cluster has recommended that, in order to highlight the problem of TB in the mines, and also encourage better control and management of the disease, the commemoration of World TB Day be conducted in the mines.
Continuing with practice introduced last year, focus will be on providing services including screening, counseling and testing for TB, HIV, hypertension and diabetes.
A partnership with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), the Mine Health and Safety Council, unions and employers is being forged for a joint commemoration and also follow up efforts needed to upscale interventions aimed at addressing TB and HIV challenges in the mines.
The global theme for World TB Day 2012 is “STOP TB in my lifetime” while the South African theme is “Zero deaths, stigma and discrimination from TB and HIV in my lifetime.”
Please note that transport to the KDC West Goldfields Mine will be provided.
Please RSVP to David Masango David@gcis.gov.za 083 279 7520/012 314 2271 by Tuesday, 20 March 2012.
For directions to The Pyramid Conference Centre: 011 493 8600
