Journalist-Kenya
[NAIROBI] A fresh
offensive against tuberculosis (TB), including TB among people living with HIV,
has been launched by health leaders from Africa
and international agencies to help stem down the scourge.
The
move saw leaders sign the Swaziland Statement on March 21, committing them to speed up progress against the
two diseases in the next 1000 days and work with Southern African Development
Community (SADC) countries to achieve the international targets of cutting
deaths from TB and HIV-associated TB by half by 2015, compared to 1990 levels.
They
declared a package of new investments and initiatives worth more than US $120
million.
“We
did not gather here today (March 21) to underline the problem – we know the
problem very well,” said Benedict Xaba, Minister of Health of Swaziland. “TB
and HIV have combined together in the SADC region in a perfect storm and what
we need to mobilise is an emergency response to this storm.”
Africa is not currently on track to achieve the international TB and
HIV-associated TB mortality targets by 2015. According to the latest World
Health Organisation data, around 600 000 people died from TB in Africa in 2011, accounting for 40 per cent of the global
toll.
This
means that Africa has now overtaken Asia –
with its much higher population and number of TB cases – as the region with the
greatest number of TB deaths. SADC countries are at the epicenter of the
epidemic.
A
major stumbling block to progress is the extremely high TB/HIV co-infection
rate in Africa. In 2011, 80 per cent of the
people living with HIV who fell ill with TB were in Africa.
TB associated with the mining industry is also fueling the regional
co-epidemic.
The
proportion of people getting sick with TB is at least two and half times higher
among miners than in the general population in South Africa and up to 20 times
higher than the global average.
“TB
remains a major cause of death in our sub-region and we will not defeat HIV
without a concerted offensive against TB,” said Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister
of Health of South Africa. “If HIV/AIDS and TB was a snake, I can assure you
the head would be in here South
Africa. And I’m repeating this to the mining
sector – because mineworkers come from the whole sub-region; they come here to
our mines to catch TB and HIV and take it back home.”
He
said they must prioritise hot spots for action, and one of the hottest of these
is TB in the mining industry adding that the partnerships witnessing witnessed
during the Swaziland
meeting today between government, the corporate sector, and global agencies can
and must drive the renewed effort in the next 1000 days.
Dr
Mphu Ramatlapeng, Vice-Chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced that
the Global Fund will commit US $102 million of new funding to TB programmes in
SADC countries. The Global Fund is the largest international funding stream for
TB, accounting for the great majority of 2011 donor funding for TB.
The
Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel
Sidibé, said that UNAIDS would make a bold call to action for Zero tolerance of
parallel systems for delivery of HIV and TB services. “UNAIDS will support
countries to ensure that every person is aware of their HIV status and is also
tested for TB, and that all people co-infected with TB and HIV initiate TB and
HIV treatment,” said Sidibe
He
added that UNAIDS will advocate to close the financial gap and mobilise donors,
partners and countries to secure resources and meet the TB/HIV target of
halving the number of TB deaths in people living with HIV by 2015.
UNAIDS
will provide focused support to the 10 countries most affected by TB and HIV,
and work to overcome the stigma and discrimination that prevent people from
getting tested and staying on treatment.
In
addition, the Global Fund has committed US $741 million for HIV programmes in
SADC countries. This funding will support TB-HIV activities such as providing
antiretroviral therapy to TB patients who are HIV positive.
According
to Sarah Dunn, DfID Head for Southern Africa, DfID will provide US $220
000 for catalytic, short term programme management support to be provided as
matched funds for a similar or larger contribution from the private mining
sector and other partners.
Ochieng’ Ogodo is a Nairobi
based journalist whose works have been published in various parts of the world
including Africa, the US and
Europe. He is the English-speaking Africa and Middle East region winner for the 2008 Reuters-IUCN Media
Awards for Excellence in Environmental Reporting. He is the chairman of the Kenya
Environment and Science Journalists Association. He can be reached at ochiengogodo@yahoo.com, ochiengogodo@hotmail.com or ochiengogodo@gmail.com
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