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As healthcare workers and researchers across the globe mark World Tuberculosis Day, the DA in the Western Cape welcomes the renewed vigour with which the Western Cape Government has recommitted itself to eradicating this terrible disease for good. This year sees the Department of Health and Wellness place a renewed focus on their TB response, which has been bolstered by the lessons learned during the Covid 19 response. However, this goal cannot be achieved without the support of every citizen of the Western Cape.

Despite good progress having been made in reducing the spread of the disease, TB still causes thousands of deaths in the Western Cape. Last year saw more than 50 000 infections and 4 230 deaths. This prompted the formation of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Tuberculosis in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, which provides direct leadership over the medical response to the disease in the Western Cape.

In addition to placing a renewed emphasis on treatment and testing for the disease, the Western Cape Government has also pursued a range of measures to increase awareness of the disease. Among these measures is a public-facing TB Dashboard, which allows all stakeholders to track the number of active TB cases in the Province in real time. This not only allows members of the public to know the health status of their communities, but also allows decision-makers to allocate additional resources to certain areas if necessary. The WCG also offers a self-screening service by Whatsapp, which allows potential patients to check their symptoms before being tested at a healthcare facility.

Like Covid 19, TB spreads through the air and is highly infectious. While many believe TB to be confined to rural areas, the disease is also found in more urban regions of the Western Cape, and it is thus the responsibility of every citizen to remain vigilant and conscious of the disease’s symptoms. These include:

• A persistent or unexplained cough.
• Bloody sputum or phlegm.
• Pain in your chest when coughing or breathing.
• Weight loss and/or loss of appetite. Or inadequate growth in children (not gaining weight as expected).
• Malaise or fever.
• Sweating profusely at night.

The risk of drug-resistant TB is also increasing across the world, and it is also vital that those who receive treatment for TB finish the full course of their medication – even after they begin to feel better. This ensures that the disease is totally eradicated from the body, and that it cannot reproduce to form a stronger variant of itself.

MPP Gerrit Pretorius said: “The Department of Health and Wellness has repeatedly stated that health is everyone’s business, and I could not agree more with that sentiment. We need to keep ourselves, our communities, and each other healthy, and that means that all of us have to be aware of this disease. With the Covid threat having been brought under control by the hard work of our health professionals, TB regains its title as the most serious and deadly respiratory disease in our province. I hope that everyone in the Western Cape will join me in remembering those that we have lost to TB, and recommitting ourselves to ridding our Province of the disease for good.

Issued by Gerrit Pretorius, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Health