25 Mar 2013

 

Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe says there is no doubt that the socio-economic ramifications of the global burden of Tuberculosis has far reaching effects with tentacles beyond the health sectors.

Officiating at the Tuberculosis Commemoration Day in Maun, he said Tuberculosis (TB) continues to elude a well-coordinated global response to date.

Globally, he said, close to a third of people living with HIV are infected with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis and are at an increased risk of developing active TB.

 He revealed that in 2011, an estimated 8.7 million new cases were recorded, close to 1.5 million lives succumbed to the disease while 500 000 were co-infected with HIV.

Dr Kedikilwe said current interventions had saved 20 million lives in the past 17 years and a more rapid test for TB was now available in close to 70 low and middle-income countries.

“The emerging threat of drug resistant forms of TB is complicating the global response as in 2011, close to 500 000 people contracted multi-drug resistant TB globally and less than a fifth accessed appropriate care”, he added.

The Vice President observed that drug resistant forms of TB remained a nagging concern, undermining current national response efforts.

“Each year close to 100 new Multi-Drug Resistant TB cases are reported across the country”, he added.

Dr Kedikilwe noted that due to the declining global commitments on account of Botswana being an upper middle income economy and limited financial resources, the national response to TB has to compete with other national priorities.

He also noted that occupational TB, particularly in the mining sector, has increasingly assumed importance with rates in some member states as high as four times their TB national figures.

“I am encouraged to note that in 2012, our heads of state appended signatures to the ‘SADC Declaration on TB in the mining sector’ affirming regional political commitment to addressing TB among the most vulnerable in the region.

The next step is to implement the declaration”, he said.

Dr Kedikilwe also observed that this month, Botswana has an opportunity to host a high level dialogue on health in the post 2015 Development Agenda.

He said that the on-going consultations recognize the need to build on progress from the Millennium Development Goals and ensure that the unfinished agenda so central to their attainment should be part of the future commitment, even as the government adjusts its approaches to address new and emerging issues.

For his part, World Health Organization (WHO) representative, Dr Eugene Nyarko noted that the TB epidemic in Africa was largely driven by factors related to poverty and the negative effects of TB and HIV co-infection.

He said according to the 2012 Global Tuberculosis Report, 46 per cent of those who had TB in 2011 were HIV positive and sadly, only 46 of them received the WHO recommended anti-retroviral treatment.

He said over five years, African countries had been increasingly using new rapid TB detection methods and as a result the rising trend of TB cases had been halted as the treatment success rate improved.

He noted that the death rate as well as the number of people who fail to complete their TB treatment continues to decline.

Dr Nyarko however pointed out that in spite of these achievements, there was no place for complacency and stressed the importance of early diagnosis as the most effective way of preventing the spread of TB.

He said stopping TB in our lifetime would require governments and development partners to increase and sustain political and financial commitments for TB control.

He further said that it was vital to ensure that everyone has access to TB prevention and treatment services in all countries of the region.

  Dr Nyarko said WHO would continue to support the government in every way it could to ensure that the services were available to the communities. ENDS