Media

Gauteng TB Caucus sharpens its focus as 2026 State of TB Report highlights urgent gaps

By: Palesa Chidi For Gauteng to address its high TB burden, parliamentarians need to understand the data down to the district level as well as the socio economic burden and impact of this age old disease. This was the overarching message that came out of an engagement with the TB Caucus at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.The group were hosted by the TB Accountability Consortium and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation as part of efforts to mark World TB Day. The engagement brought together legislators, civil society and health stakeholders to strengthen the use of data in improving oversight, addressing service delivery […]

Communities in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain mobilised around TB

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 […]

Gauteng’s TB caucus visits TB hotspots in the province ahead of World TB Day

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 […]

A new TB dashboard can help boost testing, we need to make the most of it

Published by Spotlight The new government TB dashboard is a step forward for transparency and accountability in South Africa’s response to the ancient, but still deadly, disease. It is critical that we use it wisely to boost our testing efforts, argues a group of South Africa’s leading TB activists ahead of World TB Day on March 24th. After years of advocacy by TB survivors, researchers, health workers, community and civil society organisations, South Africa now has a national TB dashboard that posts TB statistics, which everyone can access, including members of the general public. This is a major win for transparency and […]

National and provincial health governments must find manage inefficiencies with additional allocations to their districts

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 […]

Russell Rensburg | Consolidate the funding of South Africa’s district health system: why reform can’t wait

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 […]