Getting TB Control Back On Track
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Tuberculosis (TB) is the ninth leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause from a single infectious agent, ranking above HIV/AIDS. The African region accounts for more than a quarter of all TB deaths; making South Africa one of the 30 high-burden TB countries contributing 87% of the estimated incident cases globally and among countries with the highest burden of TB, TB/HIV and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).
Despite the progress in the fight against TB, several hurdles, (mainly COVID-19 pandemic), have curbed the efforts to end this preventable and curable disease, and the global targets to eliminate this disease by 2030 look increasingly evasive. TB mortality is rising globally, and TB incidence remains unacceptably high.
In the continued fight against TB, SRC, represented by Dr Babalwa Maholwana, Dr. Ayman Osman, Dr. Athmanundh Dilraj, and Neetha Morar, honoured the invitation to attend the 7th South African TB Conference held at the ICC in Durban, from the 13th to the 16th of September, 2022. Under the theme “working together to get TB back on track”, the four-day conference provided a platform for all industry professionals and organisations to discuss and identify methods of getting TB control programmes back on track.
Conference Objectives
- Re-energise the TB community through in-person interaction of academic, governmental, non-governmental and civil society stakeholders
- Understand setbacks in TB control and research due to the COVID-19 epidemic and examine opportunities to get back on track
- Learn about the most recent advancements in Tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, including discovery, development, and implementation
- Investigate the best practises for community engagement and communication in TB control and research as well as the social aspects of Tuberculosis
- Learn about advances in basic understanding of the pathogen and host response