World Health Organisation (WHO) tuberculosis (TB) expert from Geneva
4 April 2007
It is my greatest pleasure to welcome Dr Fabio Scano, a TB expert from the
World Health Organisation (WHO) from Geneva, who is here to provide technical
assistance and advice to strengthen our response to the challenge of TB,
especially Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) and Extreme Drug Resistant (XDR) TB in
the country. The arrival of Dr Scano takes place at an opportune moment for him
to join a follow-up meeting on TB, to be attended by national and provincial
health officials, representatives of the civil society and other stakeholders,
as agreed in our meeting with them last month. This follow-up meeting will take
place in three weeks time, to discuss in detail measures that need to be taken
to strengthen the national TB Control Programme and make appropriate
recommendations.
The Department of Health has already done a great deal to effectively
respond to the challenge of TB, including MDR and XDR TB. This is in line with
the WHO recommendations and guidelines, which were reviewed in Geneva last
year, following a meeting of experts. The meeting with the WHO, held in
Pretoria last year, agreed on a plan of action for the control of TB,
particularly MDR and XDR strains. We have agreed with the WHO that we will work
closely together in addressing this challenge.
We are very excited about Dr Scano's presence and we are optimistic that our
partnership with the WHO and other various experts and stakeholders both
locally and abroad, will provide a strong multi-sectoral approach to TB control
and also address the emergence of drug resistance. Dr Scano has extensive
international experience in epidemiology and infectious disease control. His
training in public health and his experience with TB control and the
relationships between TB and HIV, and the development of resistant patterns
will be very helpful to our Department.
It has been agreed with the WHO that we would work with Dr Scano in the
following areas:
* to provide technical assistance to the national and provincial Department
of Health to ensure greater adherence of patients with TB and improvement in
cure and treatment completion
* to facilitate internal and external quality assurance of the laboratory
network for smear microscopy, culture, and drug susceptibility testing (of
first and second-line anti-TB drugs)
* to assist in strengthening the surveillance system for drug resistant TB and
improvement of the quality of data
* to support the revision of the guidelines of drug resistant TB and the
implementation of the revised reporting and recording system for drug resistant
tuberculosis
* to support the training of health care professionals on the clinical
management of drug resistant tuberculosis
* to assist with the finalisation of the country guidelines on infection
control and help organise training activities on infection control for health
personnel involved in the management of TB
* to work in collaboration with other partners in TB control in the
country
* and also to support the epidemiological investigation in KwaZulu-Natal
province in conjunction with national, provincial and district health
authorities as well as local research agencies or universities as identified by
the province.
Dr Scano will work with the Directorate responsible for tuberculosis in the
Department and Health and will visit provinces. The WHO office in South Africa
will co-ordinate his deployment while working with the Department. Dr Scano has
officially started his duties in the department and has already visited Tugela
Ferry and King George V Hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal.
For more information, contact:
Charity Bhengu
Cell: 083 679 7424
Issued by: Department of Health
4 April 2007
Source: Department of Health, (http://www.doh.gov.za)
