With TB listed as the third major cause of premature death in Cape Town, City Health and its partners are working hard to get the fight against the disease back on track in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

World TB Day is celebrated on 24 March annually.

The South African theme this year is ‘Invest in Action to End TB Now! Get Screened. End Stigma. Save Lives’.

‘The theme is very clear. We need to encourage people to get screened for TB, we need to work to dismantle the stigma that still surrounds the disease, which discourages people from stepping forward for testing and screening, and we need to ensure that those who are diagnosed complete their course of treatment so that they can make a full recovery.

‘TB is curable, yet it is ranked as the third leading cause of premature death here in Cape Town. We cannot continue in this manner. People are dying when we have the means to save their lives,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross.

Operational data shows that over the past 2 years, coinciding with the Covid-19 epidemic, TB case finding decreased and treatment success rates decreased, mostly due to an increased Lost to Follow-up rate.  Recently there has been some recovery in these programmatic indicators.

The City of Cape Town is combining existing and new interventions in the fight to reduce TB related morbidity and mortality. These include:

• A revised integrated Covid-19 and TB screening tool, which focuses on screening everyone who enters a City Heath clinic.
• Focusing on the screening and testing of household contacts (including children under 15), of patients with TB.
• A Welcome Back campaign was launched in 2021 to encourage all clients (including those with TB) who may have fallen out of care to come back.
• The use of a new diagnostic, TB Urine-LAM to reduce morbidity in HIV positive patients through early diagnosis of TB.
• Operational research involving a new drug as part of a drug resistant TB regimen (BPal) for a reduced time period (six months, compared to the standard “short course” regimen of 12 months).
• In the near future, TB preventative therapy will be made available to expanded categories of people at risk of acquiring TB and with a shorter course of prevention medication.
• STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT/SUPPORT
• City Health has been collaborating with different sectors to address the impact of TB, and to find new ways of combating the disease. This includes non-profit organisations (NPOs) and research institutions. Additionally, the Scaling Data Use to Improve Patient Care project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to implement innovative approaches and more effective data utilisation to improve the outcomes for TB and HIV.
• TB HIV Care, an NPO, has been working and supporting City facilities for the past three years in the fight against TB. A pilot project involves digital chest x- ray mobile services to improve screening for and detection of TB. Another NPO, ANOVA Health Institute, aims to improve outcomes for clients with TB/HIV co-infection through the integration of HIV and TB services.
• Different research institutions based in Cape Town are conducting research into various aspects of TB. Examples include studies focused on diagnostic strategies for HIV-associated TB, the introduction of a shorter course regimen in Drug Sensitive-TB, the development of a TB vaccine and comprehensive care beyond treatment completion..

Source: City Of Cape Town