Manto: HIV, XDR-TB dropping

2008-08-25 19:06

Cape Town - The prevalence of HIV, and both multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extreme drug resistant (EDR) TB, are all showing signs of decreasing, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday.

The 2007 antenatal survey results of pregnant women using public health facilities found another 1% reduction in the prevalence of HIV - the same as in 2006, she told a media briefing.

The current prevalence rate was 29%.

"Further good news is that the rate of increase among the youth in particular has slowed further, as well as in women between 20 and 24 years of age.

"Given that these trends have been found over a two-year period we think that our prevention strategies are beginning to make a difference to behaviour," Tshabalala-Msimang said.

"On TB control and the implementation of the TB Strategic Plan, we are encouraged by the fact that 20% of our health facilities now have TB tracing teams as part of our efforts to reduce the TB defaulter rate from 10% to 7% in line with the target set by the President in the State of the Nation Address."

The defaulter rate was currently at 9% and, in the districts where the defaulter tracing teams had been strengthened, more than 90% of defaulters had been found and more than 60% of them were back on treatment.

"Equally, in the Msinga sub-district where the first cases of XDR-TB were identified a few years ago, the defaulter rate is zero and the latest figures show that the rate of new cases of MDR and XDR-TB have decreased significantly," she said.

A number of health professionals had now been trained on TB management, with 128 trained on infection control, 604 on the use of the electronic TB register, 177 on data management, and 2211 on the clinical management of TB.

- SAPA