Gauteng: TB main cause of death

2008-09-11 17:43

Johannesburg - Tuberculosis was the leading cause of deaths in Gauteng, a provincial public health profile report has found.

"It is a fact that TB is curable," health MEC Brian Hlongwa said in releasing the report in Sandton on Thursday.

"One can never over-emphasise the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. [If] we paid more attention to our health status, collectively and individually, and sought appropriate treatment after diagnosis we would not have this high death rate," he said.

However, the TB cure rate had increased by almost three percent between 2003 and 2006, in an environment permeated by poverty and immigration.

"This is a source of encouragement in our fight against TB," Hlongwa said.

The department had launched its Quality Health Care Campaign to encourage people to take greater responsibility for their own health.

Inform policy makers

The Gauteng health care facility utilisation rate was 2.3 visits per person per year, which was well below the national average of 3.5 visits per person per year.

It was hoped that such a campaign would inculcate a sense of personal responsibility in people and thus drive up the regularity with which they accessed public health care.

The purpose of the report was to inform policy makers, academics, clinicians, managers, non-governmental organisations and the public about the public health profile of Gauteng.

Hlongwa said the report provided information on the performance of initiatives which sought to improve the province's health status and health service delivery.

It was a first attempt at determining what work was being done with which available resources, and in what environment the work and resources were functioning, in order to enable the critical evaluation of health care initiatives and services.

The findings gave the provincial health department an opportunity to develop an informed and planned approach to quality health care delivery, he said.

The report covered only public sector facilities and excluded data from the private health care sector.

Hlongwa said, in response to a question from the floor, that the department, in co-operation with private health care stakeholders, was aiming at including private health care data in the next report.

"There are approximately 48 million people in the country of which seven million have health insurance (medical insurance). We must include their data in our next report as they must also be served."

The department wanted to use the report as a basis for issuing further reports.

The department aimed at eventually releasing such a report every year. This would provide better oversight of health institutions in the province as each clinic, community health centre and hospital could be accurately assessed each year, Hlongwa said.

Assessing the data

The next report though was only due in two years time, said Dr Victor Ramathesele the event's organiser.

The report was sent to the World Health Organisation (WHO) so that it could assess the quality of the data used and the veracity of extrapolations made using the data, said health information director Jeanette Hunter.

The Gauteng health department had started a process where emergency medical services and primary health services would fall under its authority.

Mortuaries and forensic pathology services previously managed by the SA Police Service were currently being managed by the department.

The ANC's 52nd National Conference had resolved to make health and education the two key national priorities for the next five years, Hlongwa said.

- SAPA