High tuberculosis cases at Gamalakhe Clinic
The Ugu District has one of the highest cases of TB in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Gamalakhe Community Health Centre has the highest number of reported tuberculosis (TB) cases (2 113) in the Ugu District.
Umzinto Clinic under Umdoni Municipality is the second highest, with 909 cases.
The Mfundo Arnold Lushaba Community Health Centre in Umzumbe Municipality is in third place with 788 cases, followed by St Andrews Hospital under Umuziwabantu Municipality with 515 cases.
KZN Premier Thami Ntuli revealed these numbers during the commemoration of World TB Day at the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre on Monday last week.
Ntuli said the fight against TB must be a shared responsibility involving communities, government, business, and civil society.
“This disease is curable. No person should suffer in silence or face stigma. Let us commit ourselves, our resources and energy to end TB for good,” said Ntuli.
He said the province continues to face a high TB burden in spite of 798 health facilities offering TB and HIV services.
He added that KZN was the second most populous province in South Africa, with over 11.5 million residents.
Ntuli said their strategic focus areas included accelerated TB case finding, screening and testing.
“This also includes integrated service delivery for TB, HIV, and non-communicable diseases, community-based advocacy and awareness initiatives, robust communication and media campaigns, partnerships with traditional leaders, faith-based organisations, and the private sector, increased financing for prevention, treatment, research and innovation,” he said.
The Premier added that additional interventions include tracing TB patients, testing HIV-positive pregnant women for TB, and promoting TB preventative therapy among vulnerable populations.
“This is not just the responsibility of the provincial government. It is a shared duty that requires the commitment of every citizen and every stakeholder. Together, we can end TB,” said Ntuli.
Deputy President and South African National Aids Council (SANAC) chairperson Paul Mashatile led the World TB Day commemoration.
Mashatile said there was a need to develop national-level plans for scaling up and institutionalising HIV, TB, and human rights training for health workers and law enforcers.
He added that TB initiatives remain under-served compared to HIV and human rights programmes.
“There is an urgent need to implement national-level TB stigma and discrimination reduction programmes and to engage community-level networks and organisations in district-level efforts. This will also be prioritised in the next financial year,” he said.
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