ACDP says South Africa is losing the battle against TB

By Rhodé Marshall
14 November 2007

The African Christian Democratic Party says that it is worried about reports that were given by scientists at the Lung Health Conference which was held at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

“The ACDP is alarmed at an apparent lack of action is increasing the risk of TB spreading from uncontrolled regions to controlled areas of South Africa , in fact it is posing as a threat to the rest of the world,” says ACDP spokesperson Cheryllyn Dudley.

Dudley says the both the Multi and Extreme Drug Resistant TB is there as a result of a failure of treatment in first time TB patients.

“We’ve got TB rates in our communities that are the highest in the world, this is scandalous since the disease is curable and measures can be taken to reduce infections,” says Dudley.

The ACDP says it believes that the Minister of Health has ignored the ways in which AIDS can be treated and that the Minister also ‘belittles’ the concerns scientists have about the relationship between the two diseases.

At the Lung Health Conference, Chief Director of TB for the National Department of Health Yogan Pillay said that people who have HIV/AIDS are extremely vulnerable because their immune systems are weak which makes them prone to many other diseases like TB.

“If you are HIV positive, go and get tested for TB and people with TB should get tested for HIV because the two diseases in a sense live off each other,” says Pillay.

Pillay added that if one has HIV and TB there is no reason why you cannot be cured if you take your TB treatment everyday.