Gauteng Health Hosts World TB Awareness Day in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni
The event serves to strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders, including government departments and civil society, to support the End TB Campaign and contribute toward achieving its targets
Gauteng Health Hosts World TB Awareness Day in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni
The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) is commemorating World Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Awareness Day on Tuesday 31 March in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni to strengthen efforts to combat TB within communities and accelerate progress toward ending the epidemic.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly infectious disease that remains a major global health concern. However, it is curable when detected early and treated effectively with the appropriate medication.
Through this event, the Department seeks to intensify awareness and education on HIV/TB Preventive Therapy (TPT) and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), while promoting increased screening, reducing stigma and encouraging treatment adherence.
March is observed annually as TB Awareness Month to reinforce global efforts to end the epidemic. This year’s theme, “Yes! We Can End TB!!”, highlights the importance of strong leadership, increased investment and multisectoral collaboration in achieving this goal. The event coincides with the closing period of TB Awareness Month, providing a platform to mobilise communities and stakeholders in the fight against TB.
The event will also serve to strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders, including government departments and civil society organisations, to support the End TB Campaign and contribute toward achieving its targets.
The Ekurhuleni District, host of this year’s provincial commemoration, continues to face significant TB-related challenges, including declining TB case detection, high loss-to-follow-up (LTFU) rates particularly in the South subdistrict, high HIV/TB co-infection rates, low TPT initiation among HIV-positive clients and gaps in TB screening and diagnostic testing.
In response, the campaign will focus on increasing TB case finding through Digital Chest X-Ray (DCXR), tracking and tracing patients lost to follow-up and linking them back to care and scaling up targeted TB testing among high-risk groups.
These high-risk groups include people living with chronic conditions such as HIV, diabetes, cancer, lung and kidney diseases and malnutrition, as well as individuals previously infected with TB, the elderly, young children and those in close contact with untreated TB patients.
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