The protracted TB struggle: SA ups the intensity

An ambitious programme to integrate TB and HIV services into single primary health care facilities and a R32 million European Union (EU)-funded treatment defaulter tracing project are among the chief mitigation weapons aimed at the TB pandemic this year. This emerged from an interview last month with the national director of the TB Control and Management Unit at the national health department, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi. With the HIV pandemic having multiplied South Africa’s TB prevalence three-fold over the past decade (Fig. 1) and the country now among the 10 worst performing in TB control internationally, Mvusi says more efficient awareness, prevention and monitoring campaigns are ‘crucial’.