Grant to fight TB in Southern Africa’s mining sector

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Feb. 7, 2016, 2:36 p.m.

PRETORIA, February 5, 2016 - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and a Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) representing a group of 10 Southern African countries today signed a landmark grant to pioneer innovative models to reduce high rates of TB in the mining sector.

The Grant will support potentially-transformative interventions in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The World Bank Group serves as the Secretariat for the RCM while the Wits Health Consortium acts as the Principal Recipient of the Grant.

"Gold miners in southern Africa have some of the highest rates of TB infection in the world, we are committed to investing vigorously to reduce rates as much as possible," said Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "To end TB as an epidemic, we have to be effective here."

Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant problem within the Southern African mining industry. In South Africa alone, TB rates within the gold mining workforce are estimated at 2,500-3,000 cases per 100,000 individuals. This incidence is 10 times higher than the WHO threshold for a health emergency, and is also 2.5 to 3 times the incidence rate in the general population. Factors that contribute to the high incidence of TB among mineworkers include prolonged exposure to silica dust, poor living conditions, high HIV prevalence, poverty, and a poor cross border health referral system.

The Grant links strongly to the World Bank Group's twin goals of eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity by 2030. It is also aligned with its global strategy for health, nutrition, and population, which seeks to help countries expand access to quality, affordable health care; protect people from falling into poverty or worsening poverty due to illness; and promote investments in all sectors that form the foundation of healthy societies.

"TB is not only a disease of poverty, but it also creates poverty and is a threat to global health security. Our goal in southern Africa is therefore to achieve our twin goals through a targeted focus on addressing the drivers of TB in the mining sector," said Dr. Patrick Osewe, Global Lead, Healthy Societies, World Bank.

The Southern Africa TB in the Mining Sector Initiative is an innovative multistakeholder effort involving representatives from the ten country coordinating mechanisms (CCM), Ministries of Health, Mineral Resources, and, Labor; mining companies; current and ex-mineworkers' associations; labor unions; development agencies; civil society, and research institutions. The Grant is the culmination of efforts that started in January last year with the submission of a joint proposal by the ten countries to the Global Fund.

"For over a century, we have dealt with a seemingly insurmountable challenge. With this Grant, we seek to force a paradigm shift in the way we have addressed TB in the mining sector and set new standards worthy of emulation," said Donald Tobaiwa, Chair, RCM.


Source: Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria