TB/HIV Care Association and the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Health will be hosting a press tour to celebrate the fact that Sisonke is the first district in South Africa to have district-wide coverage of the GeneXpert, which can diagnose drug-resistant TB. This has been made possible through the partnership between the department of Health, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and TB/HIV Care Association (with funding from Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and World Health Organisation (WHO) Stop TB Partnership).
This means that every TB suspect in the district is tested for drug-resistance (DR) when they are first tested for TB. DR-TB patients can then be put on treatment within a week instead of waiting for as many as 6 weeks or more.
Another advance in the Sisonke District management of DR-TB is that treatment has been decentralized. Instead of waiting to be transferred to King George V Hospital in Durban, patients are now initiated on treatment at St Margaret’s Hospital in Sisonke district. In addition, instead of being confined to a TB hospital for the duration of their long, sometimes 2 year treatment; DR-TB patients can be re-integrated into the community when ready. Outreach teams are then able to provide injections of anti-TB drugs to DRTB patients in each of the 5 sub-districts.
The media event will take place atSt Margaret’s Hospital, where representatives from all of the partners who have made this possible, TB/HIV Care Association, the WHO, National Health Laboratory Services, andCDC and provincial and district department of Health will be available to answer questions.
The tour will meet the central point above and travel to St Apollinaris Hospital to view and photograph the GeneXpert in action as sputum samples are prepared and loaded into the machine.
Date: Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Event Time: 10h00 – 12h00
Pick Up: 7h00 Durban Playhouse, 29 Acutt Street, Durban
Drop off: 14h00 Durban Playhouse, 29 Acutt Street, Durban
Enquiries:
Zolani Barnes
Cell: 072 615 9223
E-mail: zolani@tbhivcare.org
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083 447 2869
E-mail: chris.maxon@kznhealth.gov.za
