Cape Town - The Western Cape Health Department says it has seen an increase in screening for tuberculosis (TB) in the province, with a 48% rise in the number of individuals testing for the disease.
The increase was noted by the department between August and November last year.
The province has recorded 39 324 cases of TB according to the Provincial TB Dashboard.
Inspired by the efficacy of the provincial Covid-19 Dashboard, the TB Dashboard is part of the province’s multi-sectoral emergency response plan to reduce the spread of TB.
The dashboard gets updated monthly and is time-stamped as new data becomes available.
“The dashboard has been running successfully for the last three months since the official launch by Premier Alan Winde,” said provincial Health Department spokesperson Byron la Hoe.
“The site has received 4 000 views since going live, with the average time spent on the site being 2.17 minutes. We tend to see increased interest around the time of the monthly updates when the new data gets published, showing that it is garnering and growing an engaged audience.”
About 3 902 TB-related deaths have been recorded. Per the last update, 188 717 tests have been conducted with a 17.3% positivity rate. The Tygerberg, Eastern and Khayelitsha districts remain the highest contributors of TB cases in the province.
The emergency plan was officially launched in April 2021 and was prompted by the devastating toll the Covid-19 pandemic took on TB care.
The province saw a 35% drop in the number of people who came to facilities in April 2020 compared with April 2019, with a 54% decline in the number of people tested for TB.
A 53% decline was also reported in the number of people diagnosed with TB in April 2020 compared with April 2019.
The four-step plan includes: raising awareness of TB and its harms to society; preventing new TB infections; rapid diagnosis and early treatment and completion of treatment; and mobilising a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to tackle TB.
“The province is making every effort to improve TB outcomes. To this end, we have launched the dashboard, strengthened TB preventive therapy interventions and implemented urine LAM testing,” La Hoe said.
Winde said: “We welcome the progress made in the implementation of the TB multisectoral plan to date. The plan aims to fight TB with the same energy and tenacity that we had in our fight against Covid-19.
“Ensuring that we improve our primary health-care delivery is paramount following the impact of the pandemic on our health-care system.
“I look forward to the upcoming quarterly provincial council on Aids and TB, where we will further unpack and assess what the plan has delivered to date.”
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za