South Africa Strengthens Fight Against Tuberculosis With $94 Million Fund

South Africa allotted a $94 million funding for the next five years to fight Tuberculosis (TB), Minister of Health Joe Phaahla announced Sunday.

"Over R4 billion was budgeted in the 2024/2025 [financial year], meeting the projected needs for implementing the National Strategic Plan (NSP)," Phaahla said at South Africa's commemorations for World TB Day, which was held under the theme of "Yes! You and I Can End TB."

"71% of the TB budget is from domestic sources, 21% from Global Fund and 8% from United States government commitments," SA News reported citing Phaahla.

The minister appreciated the "announcement by the National Department of Health and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of the award of the Accelerate Tuberculosis Elimination and Program Resilience Activity (referred to as ACCELERATE) in the amount of $94 million for the next five years."

He noted that the South African government has welcomed the generous support from the Global Fund and the United States government, adding that the administration appreciates continued support towards HIV, TB and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Moreover, the TB Program of the National Department of Health has created a detailed TB Recovery Plan dashboard. This tool is utilized by provinces and districts to track the progress of the TB program. The department has also created an HIV and TB dashboard in the Health Information Centre.

"The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Situation Room is a state-of-the-art data consolidation and visualization hub built at the SANAC offices in Pretoria but can be accessed virtually from anywhere in the world," he said.

These new data visualization dashboards help to analyze enormous quantity of data that is generated in many parts and entities of South Africa, thereby monitoring and tracking the country's efforts against HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections.

The minister pointed out that since 2007, South Africa has witnessed a steady decline in the number of people diagnosed with TB each year, revealing that the figure has decreased from 644,000 in 2007 to 280,000 in 2022.