The South African (SA) Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, says there has been a steady decline in the number of people contracting Tuberculosis (TB) annually compared to the 2015 baseline.
He was speaking during the National World TB Day commemoration event at Caledon in the Overberg District of the Western Cape province.
Mashatile says the national TB programme has managed to achieve a reduction of TB incidence rate by sixty-one percent of new TB cases by 2024.
“Treatment outcomes for drug-resistant TB patients have improved significantly. We are now seeing a 79% treatment success rate, and for the first time ever, lost-to-follow-up rates for Drug Resistant TB are in single digits. This breakthrough is a result of our accelerated efforts in scaling up the introduction of shorter, more effective regimens.”
–SABC/ChannelAfrica–
