TB Accountability Consortium

TB Accountability Consortium

Media

Motsoaledi’s return as health minister sparks expectations of continued progress against TB and health inequities

As South Africa welcomes back Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi as Minister of Health for a fourth term, his legacy of championing healthcare access and tackling the country’s most pressing health challenges, including tuberculosis (TB), comes into sharp focus. Dr. Motsoaledi served as the Minister of Health in South Africa from May 2009 to May 2019, during which he demonstrated commitment to expanding healthcare access and addressing major public health issues. His tenure was characterised by notable initiatives in 2018 to support the National Health Insurance program and increase accessibility to HIV/AIDS treatment. Dr. Motsoaledi intensified efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of […]

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TB in South Africa’s children: what needs to be done

Tackling TB in children is one of the issues that received much needed  discussion at the eighth SA TB Conference in Durban.  According to a 2020 article on TB prevalence, incidence, and prevention, children living with HIV accounted for 7% of South Africa’s reported 328,000 TB cases in children under 15. In addition, a World Health Organization article indicates that the global situation is even more alarming, with 1.3 million children falling ill with TB worldwide in 2022. At the conference, the TB Accountability Consortium spoke to Dr Juli Switala about TB in children.  Switala said the staggering 54,000 TB-related deaths […]

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Slow progress after decision to make TB prevention pills more widely available

Besides preventing illness and death, tuberculosis prevention therapy is estimated to be highly cost effective. Yet, uptake of the medication is not what it could be in South Africa.

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South Africa’s 8th TB conference: Accelerating Progress to End TB

The TB Accountability Consortium (TBAC) attended South Africa’s 8th TB Conference in Durban under the theme Accelerating Progress to End TB.   The conference focused on advancing the national and global response to tuberculosis (TB). It served as a platform for discussing the latest research, innovations, and challenges in TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and stigma.  TBAC hosted a satellite session titled “The State of TB in South Africa: Exploring challenges in the care cascade.” The session was framed around TBAC’s 2024 State of TB report, which highlights South Africa’s relatively high TB infection and death rates. The report examines factors such […]

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OPINION: Stigma remains a major barrier in the battle to eradicate TB

South Africa’s eighth TB conference covered a variety of topics: the possibility of vaccine rollout in the next five years, the integration of TB and nutrition, human rights, issues around advocacy and genomics.

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Take political action, TB advocates urge Health Minister at TB Conference

TB advocates presented a letter to the Health Minister at the SA TB Conference calling for political action.

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