Date: 15/03/2005
Source: Free State Provincial Government
Title: Belot: World TB Day

Speech by the MEC of Health, Mr ST Belot, on the occasion of the World TB Day celebrations at Bethulie

15 March 2005


Master of ceremonies
Premier of the Province
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Members of Parliament
Ladies and gentlemen

It is my pleasure to be part of the celebrations of World Tuberculosis day. World Tuberculosis day is annually celebrated on 24 March but today we recognise the tremendous challenge Tuberculosis puts to all of us to take full responsibility of our lives. We need to make sure that by caring for our individual well being, we are also caring and taking responsibility to lead the Free State community to be a healthy and a self reliant society.

In our celebrations today, we need our people to become conscious of the fact that they are now responsible for the leadership of government and therefore we have to take reasonable actions to fight TB. As government we will like to take this opportunity in celebrating the lives of our people who have been saved from tuberculosis.

We would also like to take this opportunity to call on all our people to take part in fighting the disease and to make sure that no one dies because of tuberculoses and other related diseases. We need to stand up as the people of the Free State and unite in fighting for partnerships amongst all our stakeholders in the Health sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen: during 2004 the Partnership Against Tuberculosis or PAT was launched and marches to raise TB awareness were held throughout the province. Two Members of the Intra Ministerial Committee led each march. Our government, during these marches committed itself through our Mayors, councillors and the Premier of the province. All signed the memorandum of understanding. This Memorandum of Understanding sets out government and societys commitment to the Partnership Against Tuberculosis.

The Memorandum reads as follows and I quote:
The First TB Coalition Summit, involving representatives from Government, the private sector, civil society and labour, recognised that;
* Tuberculosis is a curable disease that affects all elements of South African society.

* The magnitude of suffering and death caused by the TB epidemic is both alarming and unacceptable.

* Tuberculosis is continuing to devastate the country despite the fact that it is curable.

* The impact of poverty, HIV and AIDS on the TB epidemic as well as the negative impact this disease has on the economic growth of South Africa.

* Poverty impacts on the lives of TB patients.

* Tuberculosis disrupts the social fabric of the society by stigmatising individuals.

2. In order to ensure the ultimate elimination of TB, we are committed as a Province to the following Medium Term Development Plan targets:
* Achieve a cure rate of 80 - 85% among sputum smear positive cases.

* Decrease interruption rate to below 10%.

* Decrease patient transfer rate to below 5%.

* To detect 70% of the estimated new smear+ cases and
* To achieve 100% DOTS coverage to all districts.

3. The specific objectives of the Partnership against Tuberculosis (PAT) are to:
* Mobilise resources to support the TB programs at provincial, district and clinic level.

* Intensify our efforts to attain the national targets through PAT.

* Identify and support advocacy, communication and social awareness program.

We hereby affirm our solemn commitment to supporting the efforts of this multi-sectoral coordinated approach to the fight against Tuberculosis through the Partnership Against Tuberculosis (PAT).

Ladies and Gentlemen, people of the Free State, this is no idealistic view or another undertaking not to be executed. This memorandum and its content call on all of us to join in the Partnership and strengthen its links.

As MEC of Health in the Free State I would like to call on all stakeholders to take part in the fight against tuberculosis. The partnership will assist government in realising its objectives of making sure that we have safe, healthy and self-reliant Free State people.

Partnerships like this will make sure that there is security and comfort amongst our people as enshrined in the Freedom Charter, which is a framework document which assists us to govern our country and our provinces.

This year we say to all the Free State people, Stop TB because you can, confident of the fact that we have capacity to do so if our partnerships are strengthened by the commitment from all stakeholders throughout the province.

The trends are showing that TB can infect everyone in the Free State, at present 29,6% of the 18 329 TB patients on treatment in the Free State province are economically active people aged between 35 - 44 years. We need to improve work place support by involving the employer and the employees through their representative to these partnerships.

Through the commitment of our health workers we managed to decrease treatment interruption rate by 2% from 8% to 6%, which is one of the greatest achievements in the country.

We cannot ignore the dual infection of TB and HIV, as TB is one of the common diseases and the leading cause of death in people living with HIV and AIDS. About 50% of TB patients in South Africa are infected with HIV and this proportion is increasing rapidly.

However, ladies and gentlemen, one of the great challenges is that most of our people present themselves very late for diagnosis and others do not take their treatment very well. We need to emphasise discipline amongst our people, in particular those diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis can be cured. We need commitment and perseverance from our partners in the Health sector and communities in general. All our people are to be involved, from business people, non-governmental organisations, private medical practitioners and all relevant stakeholders. We can surely secure comfort for the people of the Free State and Stop TB because we can!
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Health, Free State Provincial Government
15 March 2005