By: Aphelele Buqwana In many South African homes, a child’s cough is often dismissed as a cold, something spurred on by cold weather or a throat itch that will pass. But for thousands of children, that cough could be a sign of TB. According to experts, children are often the most overlooked group affected by the disease. Those under the age of five and children living with HIV face a higher risk. Their vulnerability is linked to different clinical presentations and challenges in screening, diagnosing, treating and preventing childhood TB. In 2024, about 249 000 people developed TB in South […]
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By: Aphelele Buqwana Katlehong, east of Germiston, became the focal point of Gauteng’s World TB Day commemoration this year as residents, health officials, civil society leaders and private sector partners gathered to confront the province’s persistent TB burden. Hosted in Ekurhuleni—one of the districts hardest hit by the disease—the event combined community mobilisation with lived experience, using survivor testimonies, on-site engagement and advocacy calls to drive a clear message: testing, treatment adherence and collective accountability remain central to turning the tide on TB. The event focused on the realities faced by communities where TB continues to spread, particularly in underserved […]
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By Rene Sparks Residents, community leaders and local stakeholders in two of the Western Cape’s most high burden TB districts have gathered to sound the alarm on the scourge of TB in their areas. The event took place in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain in the run up to the World TB Day communities in the Western Cape. Led by Neliswa Nkwali, the SA National Aids Council’s Civil Society Forum focal person for TB in the province, both sessions saw participants actively engaged in discussions around:• TB prevention and early testing• Treatment adherence and completion• Community-driven advocacy strategies• Reducing stigma associated […]
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By: Aphelele Buqwana Plagued by poor living conditions, cramped housing, poverty, limited access to sanitation and basic services. These are the conditions that many people are living in at Makawosi informal settlement in the Ekurhuleni district, where TB has become a massive health issues. Members of the Gauteng Legislature’s TB Caucus came across this when they visited the informal settlement as part of the province’s pre–World TB Day engagement. The settlement’s densely populated environment and daily challenges make the fight against TB a constant reality for residents, emphasising the urgent need for discussions and efforts that bring the issue into […]
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25 February 2026 Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana gave national and provincial departments of health a lot of homework in his budget speech yesterday, urging them to find efficient ways to manage their finances. In his speech, Godongwana had a hard line on inefficiencies in the system, saying “every programme and every allocation must demonstrate value, efficiency and accountability”. He added: “We have kept that promise, through our commitment to finding savings from unproductive expenditure, closing leakages, and rooting out inefficiencies. “Targeted and responsible savings are not a once-off initiative. They will be an ongoing and entrenched part of the budget […]
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Published by Spotlight District managers in South Africa’s public healthcare system currently have to juggle funding from multiple government budget lines, each with different strings attached. To improve district health services, we urgently need to simplify and integrate these funding flows, argues Russell Rensburg. In his State of the Nation Address this year, for the first time in a long time, President Cyril Ramaphosa focused on the broader determinants of health, delivering the strongest message yet around the importance of prevention. This included signalling reforms around the taxation and regulation of alcohol as well as announcing broad initiatives to improve […]
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