The St Francis Care Centre commemorated International TB Day on March 25 under this year’s international theme, The Clock is Ticking.
World TB Day, annually observed on March 24, is designed to raise public awareness regarding the epidemic of TB (tuberculosis) and efforts of eliminating the disease.
The clock is ticking conveys a sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments made by global leaders to end the TB scourge.
St Francis’s TB event was attended by about 50 stakeholders, such as clinics, hospitals and other NGOs.
At the event, Sr Kuvanganani Midau (from the Emthonjeni Antiretroviral Clinic) spoke about TB diagnosis and TB in children and Carol Matsipe (Boksburg North Clinic) about linkage and TB treatment.
Sibongile Thetyana, St Francis Care Centre home-based caregiver, talked about the challenges in eliminating and curing TB.
According to Tilly Brouwer, St Francis Care Centre manager, the main objective of the day is to spread awareness that TB is still the biggest killer of people worldwide, even though it is an identifiable, treatable and curable disease.
The centre manager also delivered a speech on the occasion.
Brouwer said the world needs to put an end to this killer disease and motivate people to know the symptoms and receive treatment before they become another statistic.
“On September 26, 2018, over 1 000 heads of state, political leaders, civil society representatives and other stakeholders from around the world gathered at the UN General Assembly for the first high-level meeting on tuberculosis,” said Brouwer.
“TB was declared a global emergency more than 25 years ago. Despite being preventable and treatable, this disease still claimed the lives of an estimated 1.4 million people in 2019.
“By the end of the meeting in 2018, 120 countries committed to working together to reach 10 ambitious targets as part of a political declaration to end TB by 2030.”
Brouwer added there was light at the end of the tunnel during the second anniversary of this at the beginning of 2020.
“The number of TB cases had fallen by nine per cent and the number of TB deaths decreased by 14 per cent since 2015, showing a slow by steady progress towards UN targets. Additionally, TB preventative treatment implemented through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020.
“Then in March 2020, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. Due to country lockdowns and treatment interruptions, many on the frontlines of the global TB response grew concerned about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global TB progress,” she added.
She stressed TB continues to be a disease of major importance in South Africa.
“An estimated 360 000 South Africans became ill with TB in 2019, and an estimated 58 000 people died from TB.”
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