Ndebele and Health MEC, Ms Neliswa Nkonyeni on the occasion of the tuberculosis
(TB) blitz, at Uthungulu District
3 October 2006
Our visit to this district today must be seen and understood to be part and
parcel of serious efforts that have both national as well as continental agenda
of ridding our lands of the malady of TB. Both the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Health Ministers and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have
declared TB an emergency.
In our province, we already have in place strategies aimed at its total
eradication. As such we have declared a TB Crises Plan for four of our
districts, namely:
* Ethekwini
* Mzinyathi
* Uthungulu
* UThukela
It must be noted that out of eleven provinces, ours is the most populous
one, with a total number of plus minus ten million people. This district alone
has close to a million inhabitants.
In as far as TB is concerned; our health records show that we currently have
a caseload of 703 people.
On top of that we have 290 new smear positive. Though the death rate is less
than 2%, we are still not happy with the 13,7% defaulter rates hence we are
here. We have decided to raise levels of awareness and social mobilisation,
focusing on our people on the ground, informing them that, yes, indeed TB is
curable, manageable and that it can be defeated.
The crux of the matter is that with early treatment, TB can be cured, but
without treatment TB can kill. We are saying seek help in our clinics and
hospitals if you have the following symptoms:
* a cough of longer than two weeks
* chest pains
* tiredness and weakness of the body
* loss of appetite and weight
* night sweats, even if it's cold
* the coughing of blood.
The good thing is that TB testing and treatment is free of charge. Even
though TB can be cured with little or no complications, we are emphasising
that:
* medication must be started as soon as possible and be taken according to
instructions
* it takes six months for TB to be cured completely
* it's a mistake to stop taking medicines when a person feels better
* if treatment is missed, the risk of a drug resistant strain of TB is
possible.
We are ready to deal with this malady. We have put aside a sum of R53
million to deal with it:
* for this area, we already have a TB Crises Plan in place
* TB supervisors, TB nurses and TB assistants are in the process of being
employed
* casual field workers have already been employed
* have in place tracing teams of all family and household contacts of confirmed
TB cases
* have already decided on a pilot project of giving stipends to Directly
Observed Therapy (DOT) supporters. We are also working to overcome the
challenges of the shortage of vehicles designated for the collection of
sputa.
For seriously affected areas like Umsinga, we have already assembled a team
comprising of the provincial TB unit, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
Medical School, multi-drug-resistant (MDR) unit, district and hospital
management.
We are saying we will do everything possible to rid this beautiful land of
the TB malady.
We do not want it.
Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
3 October 2006
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kwazulunatal.gov.za)
