Tuberculosis, which remains the leading cause of deaths in SA, is on the rise. And, to make matters worse, there is little hope of ending it in the next nine years, as envisaged by the UN, largely thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This means that at least 1.2-million people either weren't diagnosed with, or treated for, TB. With four months still left this year, the number is expected to rise further.
In the report experts refer to TB as an “orphan disease” due to the lack of political will and chronically low budgets for fighting it.
Dr Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, says while ending TB in 2030 was always going to be uphill, reduced funding due to Covid-19 has made the target even more remote.According to the latest Stats SA mortality report data for 2016-2018 TB has remained the leading cause of death in SA while diabetes remained the second leading underlying cause of death.
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