World TB day commemorated
ROSSMORE – TB can be cured if medication is taken according to instructions and a full course is completed.
March 24 was World Tuberculosis (TB) Day and the day was commemorated by the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Health Department.
The main objective on the day was to raise awareness of the devastating health and socio-economic consequences of the disease and to increase efforts to end the global TB epidemic. This year’s theme was Invest to End TB. Save Lives, which conveyed an urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against the disease and achieve the commitments made by global leaders to end it.
According to the City, 6 444 807 clients aged five years and older were screened for TB symptoms in the past year in the Johannesburg Health District. Of those, 110 895 (1.7%) were identified to have symptoms which included coughing for two weeks or more, unexplained weight loss, drenching night sweat, fever of two weeks or more to name a few. These clients were subsequently subjected to further tests and 7 820 were confirmed to have the disease.
Tuberculosis is a communicable disease that is among the top leading causes of death globally and a major cause of illness in the world. It is caused by the mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria which, when exhaled by an infected person, remains in the air and can be inhaled by another person. The bacteria/germ can be expelled into the air by either coughing, sneezing, talking and or singing.
The disease most often affects the person’s lungs but can also affect any site of one’s body.
Tuberculosis and HIV testing and treatment is free at all government clinics, and TB can be cured if medication is taken according to instructions and a full course is completed. HIV positive people and those with TB are more likely to experience severe Covid-19 symptoms if infected compared to those without the two diseases, thus discriminating against those diagnosed with TB/HIV can only worsen this public health problem.
As part of the commemorations, staff of Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital hosted a march in solidarity with those diagnosed with the disease.
