tuberculosis - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

South Africa looks to curb TB infections amid COVID-19 disruptions

SOUTH Africa will ramp up home delivery of medicines to patients and expand the use of chest X-rays for tuberculosis (TB) screening in communities as it looks to contain new infections since the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted health services, the health minister said yesterday. Designated by the World Health Organization as a high burden country, South Africa registers around 60,000 deaths from TB each year, making it the country's leading infectious disease killer closely intertwined with one of the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids. As COVID-19 pummelled South Africa since first being detected in March last year, many TB clinics…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Managing HIV and diabetes together: South African patients tell their stories

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa faces a quadruple burden of disease: HIV, tuberculosis (TB), non-communicable diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and injuries. South Africa has more people living with HIV than anywhere else in the world. Around 13.5% of the country’s total population has HIV. DR. EDNA N BOSIRE, Researcher, Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU) & DSI NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development., University of the Witwatersrand Many of these patients are co-infected with TB and are also at risk of developing noncommunicable diseases. This can be attributed to a massive rise in noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes. Research shows…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Africa’s miners face new TB threat as pandemic disrupts treatment

HEALTH

KIM HARRISBERG VAMA Jele's heart dropped every time he heard that another migrant miner home from South Africa had died from tuberculosis (TB) due to skipping treatment under lockdown. In just four months, it happened 60 times. When COVID-19 shut South Africa's mines, workers from Jele's homeland eSwatini and other neighbouring nations rushed home - disrupting TB care for thousands of miners at high risk from the disease due to weakened lungs after years working underground. Jele - secretary general of a migrant mineworkers' association in eSwatini - said more lives could now be lost to TB as overstretched healthcare…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 and HIV: so far it seems the outcome is not what was feared

COVID-19

BURTRAM C. FIELDING, Professor and Director: Research Development, University of the Western Cape BASED on official figures – which may be somewhat under-reported – COVID-19 has not been as devastating in South Africa as initially feared. Back in March and April this year case numbers on the continent were still modest. But predictions and projections were sombre. There seemed to be consensus that African countries had weak public health systems and few testing facilities, and containment and social distancing were going to be problematic in poor communities. More specifically, local and international organisations pointed to the fact that these areas…