SOUTH AFRICA ASKS PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SECTO HELP IN INDENTIFYING THOSE WITH TB

JOHANNESBURG– The South African government is seeking the help of the private healthcare sector in the country to identify an estimated 160,000 people living with Tuberculosis (TB) and are not not aware of their condition.

The call was made at a breakfast meeting organizsed here Monda by the American Chamber of Commerce to discuss the TB epidemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year, more than 400,000 people are infected with TB inSouth Africa and more than 160,000 of them are not diagnosed.

People living with TB and not on treatment not only put themselves in danger but also expose those they come in contact with.

Health Department Director-General Dr Precious Matsoso said the department had made progress,so these missing cases are the ones that we are calling all of you to help us to find”.

“We have made significant progress but our response to the TB epidemic has been public sector-led, she said.

It cannot be that TB is confined to the public sector. TB knows no boundaries; it does not choose a sector so it is thus necessary for us to work across all sectors to tackle the burden of the disease.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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