Date: 10/04/2011
Source: The Presidency
Title: SA: Motlanthe: Address by the Deputy President of South Africa, at the opening of the MDR-TB Unit at Catherine Booth Hospital, Amatikulu

Programme director;
Dr Zweli Mkhize, Premier of KwaZulu-Natal;
Ministers and MECs;
Mayors and Councillors;
Amakhosi neziNduna;
Amalunga Omphakathi;
Ladies and gentlemen:
I thank you for inviting me to the opening of the specialised Multiple Drug Resistant and Extreme Drug Resistant TB Unit here at Catherine Booth Hospital.
As you know health is one of the five priorities of government during this term of office.
Because of the importance of good health, we have prioritized investment in health facilities as one way to improve the health of our people.
We know that there are many health problems that affect our people.
The Department of Health often reminds us of the quadruple burden of disease that affects South Africans. Amongst these is TB. South Africa has the highest rate of pulmonary TB per 100 000 people in the world.
There are many reasons for this. These include living in overcrowded houses, having poor nutrition (being poor), working in environments that are unhealthy.
More recently having HIV and AIDS is also a major reason why the number of people with TB in the country has increased significantly.
During World AIDS Day on the 24th of March 2011, the Minister of Health announced three major strategies to deal with the TB epidemic. These are:
• intensified case management through tracing by teams of health workers who visit homes of people on TB treatment;
• the use of a new TB diagnostic technology called the GeneXpert ¬ which will significantly increase the reliability of a TB diagnosis especially in patients who also have HIV and significantly reduce the time it takes to diagnose drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) from several weeks to 2 hours; and thirdly;
• to build nine units for the treatment of MDR-TB - a more complex and difficult form of TB to treat.
I am pleased to report that case management has already started and that deployment of the GeneXpert technology is also underway. Today, I am opening one of the nine MDR-TB units!
This state of the art unit was constructed with financial support from the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria.
It is to be used for the management of a complicated from of tuberculosis (TB) that is generally known as Multiple Drug Resistant and Extreme Drug Resistant TB.
I wish to reiterate what the Minister of Health announced on the occasion of World TB Day on the 24th March 2011 in eThekwini as bold and concrete steps we are employing to significantly sharpen the fight against TB.
The Minister said we will upscale our effort to ensure that when we commemorate World TB Day on the 24th March 2012, at least half of the households of all persons diagnosed with TB in 2010 (which in 2009 stood at 407,000) would have been traced and each family member screened for TB and counselled and tested for HIV.
We do know that poverty, especially in communities such as those found in these parts of our country, is in the main responsible for most of our people being infected with TB.
Without employment, families are unable to provide for themselves. They cannot prepare healthy food which in turn makes it difficult for their bodies to develop the required protection (immunity) against infections.
As you know, our government has embarked on a long-term programme of economic and social development, which aims to reduce, and finally eliminate poverty through creating employment opportunities for our people.
As government tries to do more, there is also a responsibility on communities, families and individuals to protect themselves from TB by ensuring that they seek care as early as possible ¬ the symptoms of TB are easy to recognize - and by completing treatment.
I therefore urge all of us to take TB as seriously, so that collectively, we can beat this disease.
Without each one of us becoming a TB activist, we will not succeed in this battle.
This is one of the key partnerships required - a partnership between individuals, families, communities and government that will enable us to rid our country of many diseases and TB in particular.
Remember that prevention is better than cure and that TB is curable. Anyone who gets TB can receive treatment free of charge in any governmental health facility.
However, it is important that once a person is put on treatment, they should take the medicines according to the directions provided by nurses and doctors that they are caring for them.
They should also finish all the medicines that they are given. This therefore requires a lot of responsibility from everyone affected, that is, patients, their families and friends and our health professionals.
We should support those who live among us who have TB, by being kind to them, and not discriminating against them. Remember that anyone can get TB.
We should help them and remind them to take their TB medicines. We should also assist in caring for them if their sickness makes it difficult for them to take care of themselves. This is ³Ubuntu² which we as Africans are well known for.
Once again, if you are on TB treatment, finish it!
I thank you.