Rustenburg – South Africa’s new Deputy President Paul Mashatile on Friday made his inaugural public speech at the launch of the National Strategic Plan for HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted diseases (STI) at Tlhabane Stadium, Rustenburg, North West.
Speaking on World TB Day, Mashatile said: “On behalf of the SANAC Community, I would like, first and foremost, to convey my sincere gratitude to former Deputy President David Mabuza for the leadership he provided as Chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council as well as leading the process towards the National Strategic Plan 2023-2028 that we will be launching today”.
The 2023- 2028 NSP features four strategic Goals:
- Goal 1: To break down barriers to achieving HIV, TB, and STIs solutions.
- Goal 2: To maximise equitable and equal access to HIV, TB, and STIs services and solutions.
- Goal 3: To build resilient systems for HIV, TB, and STIs that are integrated into systems for health, social protection, and pandemic response.
- ?Goal 4: To fully resource and sustain an efficient NSP led by revitalised, inclusive, and accountable institutions.
“As all of us are aware, tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of ill health and death in South Africa,” said Mashatile.
He said this situation was exacerbated by the fact that some TB patients do not complete their treatment while others remain missing – meaning that they are either undiagnosed or are unreported even as they are diagnosed.
“Today, our country joins the rest of the world in observing World TB Day under the country theme: ‘Yes! You and I Can End TB’, said the deputy president.
The theme is aimed at encouraging individual action to strengthen the national strategy against Tuberculosis.
It underlines the significance of taking personal responsibility and joining forces to eradicate Tuberculosis as a public health threat by 2030.
“We must recommit ourselves to raising greater levels of awareness about the disease alongside its terrible health, social, economic implications and strengthen other efforts to prevent the further spread of the disease in our communities,” said Mashatile.
“This province faces specific challenges in the fight against Tuberculosis due to mining activities and a high number of informal settlements which result in overcrowding and unfavourable living conditions which expose people to health hazards.”
However, the province has made noteworthy progress in the reconstitution of its Provincial Council on Aids with the involvement of all stakeholders.
Other provinces can learn valuable lessons from this positive step.
The Government is determined to build a world free from the devastation of preventable and curable diseases such as TB.
“We must continue to embark on Tuberculosis catch-up programmes as we continue to pursue shortened treatment after infectious diseases took a backseat due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mashatile.
“However, regardless of the setback, we have made conscious efforts to rebuild and intensify TB interventions across the country.
The deputy president added: “Through the You and I’ statement of intent, we seek to encourage individuals to take charge of their health in line with the objectives of the ‘Cheka Impilo’ National Wellness Campaign, as well as the countrys endeavour towards finding the Missing TB Patients.”
Mashatile said everyone infected with TB needed to be aware of the infection, be introduced to treatment, and go on to complete their prescribed course.
Finishing the course is important in order to avoid developing Multidrug-resistant TB and Extensively drug-resistant TB which are both very difficult to treat, life-threatening and fatal.
“We must promote awareness for personal responsibility in the eradication of TB,” said Mashatile.
“This will undoubtedly deliver better progress in the fight against TB.
“Together, we can recover the ground lost by the TB response as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Mashatile added: “We should bear in mind that our country is mostly off-track in terms of attaining the set TB targets, including those related to the 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB.
“It is concerning that the last SA TB Prevalence Survey positioned our country as one of the 30 high TB burden countries accounting for 87% of the burden.
“It is one of 10 countries with a triple burden of TB, TB/HIV and MDR-TB.
“We shall accelerate interventions to eliminate TB by fast-tracking the implementation of the TB Recovery Plan launched in 2022.
“We have already started finding undiagnosed people with TB through interventions that scale up community screening, introduce Targeted Universal TB Testing, and the use of other technologies.”
In September this year, world leaders will gather at the United Nations General Assembly for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB.
The last meeting was held in 2018 when South Africa endorsed the Political Declaration on TB.
Key among the targets committed to in that declaration were the following:
- Treat 40 million people with TB between 2018 and 2022;
- Treat 3,5 million children with TB;
- Treat 1,5 million people with drug-resistant TB; and
- At least 30 million people put on TB Preventive Treatment.
“We cannot over-emphasise the importance of collaboration in the TB response. We can do more by leveraging our combined strengths and resources,” said Mashatile.
“‘The active roles of civil society, private sector, development partners, research institutions, community members, TB survivors and people infected with TB, all remain paramount in our fight to end TB.
“To that effect, through the fourth National Strategic Plan (NSP), we continued to guide our collective response to HIV, Tuberculosis and Sexually Transmitted Infections.”
The deputy president said, viewed together, the plans set out in the NSP provide insight into the path we have travelled as a nation to overcome one of the most “devastating human challenges of our time”.
The previous NSP is a clear demonstration of the outstanding progress we have made.
It is also a stark reminder of how far we still need to go.
Indeed our response to HIV, TB and STIs has evolved over the last two decades as we have come to understand the nature and impact of the epidemics, the factors that contribute to their spread, and the interventions that work best in reducing infection, morbidity and mortality.
In this regard, we are pleased to launch today the fifth National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs for the period 2023 to 2028 as adopted by Cabinet.
The new NSP is a blueprint and roadmap for a multi-sectoral, people-centred approach to eliminate HIV, TB and STIs as public health threats by 2030.
It emphasises the need to break down barriers and maximise equitable and equal access to services, through resilient and integrated health systems, to guarantee the health and social protection of all South Africans.
The successful implementation of this NSP will require strong governance and leadership, and the involvement of all sectors of society including government, business, organised labour, civil society, development partners, research institutions and communities in general.
“The NSP 2023-2028 calls upon all of us to build consensus and drive a well-coordinated, unified response to the three epidemics over a five-year period,” said Mashatile.
“We must also be cognisant of the fact that this is the last NSP ahead of the 2030 target of ending HIV and TB as a public health threat, and we dare not fail.
“Drawing lessons from previous NSPs, the Covid-19 pandemic and current epidemiological trends, the new NSP is considerably more radical in its own right.”
