South Africa: Children the frontline of war on TB
KwaZulu-Natal children are going to be warriors in the fight against tuberculosis
That is the approach by provincial health and education officials who will today launch a campaign at schools to combat the disease, which is classified an epidemic by World Health Organisation standards.
"According to the WHO, there should be 200 new cases of TB per 100000 of the population for it to be declared an epidemic.
"Yet in some of the districts in KwaZulu-Natal we have 800 new cases per 100000 of the population," said health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
TB remains one of the leading causes of death in South Africa, with KwaZulu-Natal reporting the highest number of cases, followed by the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.
"Infectious diseases are engulfing the poorest of the poor. We are four times bigger than what has been declared an epidemic.
"The WHO is saying that when there is so much TB reported, there should be 15% to 20% of cases in children younger than 12.
"In KwaZulu-Natal, we can account for up to 8% of children who have TB. So there are another 8% who we are not picking up.
"We are either picking them up too late or we are not picking them up and they die," the MEC said.
The Tackling TB in Schools campaign is a pilot project aimed at diagnosing the disease at an earlier age. It will be rolled out throughout the province later.
"We should be asking why we are getting new cases of TB every year? Where are they coming from? Are we not treating those who have it successfully and are people getting TB from a source that we don't know of?" asked Dhlomo.
He said the marker of success would be in two years when healthcare experts will have gone to all schools and screened all children.
Source: Times LIVE
