LISTEN | 'If you don’t want TB, stop breathing' — Motsoaledi as drive launched to test millions

Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi isn’t mincing words. Speaking on World TB Day, he warned: “If you don’t want to have TB, just stop breathing. As long as you breathe, you will definitely get it — that’s how big this problem is.”

His remarks, made on Monday at the launch of the End TB Campaign, highlight the need to ramp up efforts in fighting the airborne disease.

Listen to Motsoaledi and Deputy President Paul Mashatile: 

Deputy President Paul Mashatile, speaking as chairperson of the South African National Aids Council, delivered the keynote address. Motsoaledi and Mashatile outlined three key interventions to curb the spread of the disease:

• Household screening — anyone diagnosed with TB will have their family members screened and tested;
• HIV-TB testing — Encouraging all HIV-positive individuals to get tested for TB; and
• Long-term monitoring — Patients who have completed treatment will be followed up every six months.

Through the campaign they aim to test 5-million people by the end of March next year. Regardless of symptoms, anyone in close contact with TB patients will be tested, and those living with HIV will be tested annually. Mashatile said 1.1-million people know they are HIV positive but are not on treatment and the government will trace them by December.

The launch was held in Gamalakhe township in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal.

Mashatile said: “TB knows no boundaries — it affects people across all communities, but the burden falls most heavily on the poor and vulnerable.”

While prevention and treatment remain a priority, South Africa is also at the forefront of a potential TB vaccine breakthrough.

Mashatile said trials of the M72 TB vaccine, conducted in the country, have yielded promising results.

“South Africa is still a global leader at the threshold of a vaccine breakthrough. The M72 TB vaccine trials conducted in South Africa have so far yielded promising results. We are readying ourselves for local manufacturing and rapid national rollout, once all procedural protocols have been met.”

The commemoration theme which was partly retained from last year is “Yes! You and I Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”, Mashatile said.

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