Provincial government efforts to stamp out tuberculosis (TB) in the Eastern Cape are being hampered by patients not completing their treatment.
Health MEC Pumza Dyantyi yesterday said although R1.8-billion had been set aside this year to combat the spread of TB, create awareness on the problem and treat it, unnecessary money was being wasted by patients dropping out before they finished.
Speaking at a media briefing at a World TB Day commemoration in Grahamstown to mark the start of a year-long mass screening campaign in the area, Dyantyi said the high dropout rate was putting a strain on resources as more money had to be spent to find and treat defaulters.
She said TB and HIV/Aids were inter-connected and that people with the one illness often had the other.
The problem was particularly rife in the Sarah Baartmann municipal district, which has the highest infection rates in the province.
Dyantyi said 1127 people out of every 100000 were infected with TB in the Sarah Baartmann district, which includes Grahamstown, while rates were pegged at 794 in the rest of the province.
Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle, however, said it was not all doom and gloom as the default rate had been reduced from 25% in 2009 to 17% in 2014, while cure rates had improved from 70% to 75%. Although TB mortality rates had decreased from 8.2% to 5.2% over the same period, a staggering 32.8% of all deaths in the province were collectively attributed to the illness and HIV Aids.
He said even though the province was going in the “right direction”, the latest figures were still unacceptable considering that TB was curable.
Masualle said a year-long programme had been launched in the Sarah Baartman district to try and reduce TB infection.
Patients dropping out hamper fight against TB
Health MEC Pumza Dyantyi yesterday said although R1.8-billion had been set aside this year to combat the spread of TB, create awareness on the problem and treat it, unnecessary money was being wasted by patients dropping out before they finished.
Speaking at a media briefing at a World TB Day commemoration in Grahamstown to mark the start of a year-long mass screening campaign in the area, Dyantyi said the high dropout rate was putting a strain on resources as more money had to be spent to find and treat defaulters.
She said TB and HIV/Aids were inter-connected and that people with the one illness often had the other.
The problem was particularly rife in the Sarah Baartmann municipal district, which has the highest infection rates in the province.
Dyantyi said 1127 people out of every 100000 were infected with TB in the Sarah Baartmann district, which includes Grahamstown, while rates were pegged at 794 in the rest of the province.
Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle, however, said it was not all doom and gloom as the default rate had been reduced from 25% in 2009 to 17% in 2014, while cure rates had improved from 70% to 75%. Although TB mortality rates had decreased from 8.2% to 5.2% over the same period, a staggering 32.8% of all deaths in the province were collectively attributed to the illness and HIV Aids.
He said even though the province was going in the “right direction”, the latest figures were still unacceptable considering that TB was curable.
Masualle said a year-long programme had been launched in the Sarah Baartman district to try and reduce TB infection.
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