CAPE TOWN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Despite a high HIV prevalence, South Africa has a better opportunity to end the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2030, Deputy President David Mabuza said on Thursday.
South Africa will launch a national campaign to test and treat at least an additional 80,000 people with TB between April this year and March next year, Mabuza said at an event in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal Province to mark the World TB Day which falls on March 24.
The campaign is targeting people who are currently either not diagnosed or have stopped TB treatment before they were cured, according to Mabuza.
"Many of our citizens have been 'missed' by our health system as they have not been reported, and therefore have not been diagnosed," said Mabuza.
Moreover, South Africa seeks to find and treat at least 40,000 TB patients before it goes to the High Level Meeting on TB in New York in September.
This meeting, designed to discuss how the world will eliminate TB, was initiated by South Africa last year, according to Mabuza.
Mabuza appealed to all leaders in society, starting with traditional leaders across the country, to take the lead to fight TB.
"Our traditional leaders, by their close proximity with our people, carry a huge responsibility to reverse the tide against new TB infections and TB related deaths," Mabuza said.
South Africa's fight against TB will be guided by the new National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and Sexually Transmitted Infections for the period 2017-2022, launched last year, Mabuza said.
The success in implementing this National Strategic Plan depends on the functionality of the AIDS Councils at all levels, from national down to the ward levels, he said.
"All our provinces must urgently finalize their plans so that we can move together promptly and in a coordinated manner to improve the health and wellbeing of our people," Mabuza said.
He said the Implementation Plans of the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape will be ready by the end of this month.
"Let us empower our communities with knowledge of the small, but very crucial, actions they can take to stop the spread of TB," Mabuza said.
HIV-related TB remains the leading infectious disease killer among South Africans. More people die of TB than HIV in the country, where the total number of people living with HIV was estimated at approximately 7.06 million in 2017.
According to figures provided by Statistics South Africa, there were 460,000 recorded deaths from various causes in 2015. Of these, TB contributed 33,000.
Research shows that 60 percent of people with HIV also have TB.
Mabuza encouraged TB patients to come forward and get treatment.
TB is curable, but people with coughs, night sweats, chest pains and weight loss, the symptoms of TB, often ignore these symptoms, he said.
Sometimes, people recognize the symptoms but are scared or feel that they will be judged by others for having TB, Mabuza said.
"Stigma is still very prevalent in our communities and leaders have a critical role to play in ensuring that we get rid of stigma for all diseases, especially TB and HIV," he said.
