Pretoria - The 2018 tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey results have revealed that South Africa was still battling to curb the disease with many people showing no symptoms and going undetected.
The National Department of Health released the results earlier today despite them being completed and ready in February 2020.
The reason for the delay was according to Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize due to the department having to shift gears and focus on the pressures of responding to the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In detailing the results of the survey Dr Sizulu Moyo from the Human Sciences Research Council, said they found that the disease was more prevalent in men than in women by 1.6%.
Moyo said this was especially the case for men between the ages of 35 and 44, and those 65 years and older.
Something which she said necessitated the need for departments to integrate TB screening into men’s health programmes and looking to utilise social networks and other men’s forums to reach them.
She said the reason for this was due to the findings outlining that men did not seek care for their symptoms even when they presented themselves.
Moyo said they also found that the disease was under-diagnosed amongst HIV-negative individuals, with more than two-thirds of the participants not seeking care for their symptoms or delaying seeking care.
“There is a need to increase early care-seeking for TB symptoms by conducting in-depth behavioural assessments to determine and further understand the reasons for this delayed care-seeking.”
“Furthermore we need to design targeted interventions to increase health care seeking for TB symptoms and increase knowledge and awareness of the significance of these TB symptoms,” Moyo added.
Mkhize said it was important to note that the continued prevalence of the disease was also driven by the concurrent HIV epidemic the country was facing, despite however much had been done to ensure high coverage of antiretrovirals.
He highlighted that the findings indicated a blind spot for the department to look into, especially for persons who had the disease but did not show any symptoms.
“Previously we focused on symptomatic patients and those living with HIV but we now need to encourage everyone to screen and test for TB to achieve the elimination of this disease.”
Pretoria News