Summary from official reports:
Utilising info obtained from tbfacts.org WHO Statistics
SA.gov.za/publications/P0302/P03022019.pdf
Mercury Newspaper 2015-2019
In SA an estimated 360 000 people became ill with TB
58 000 died, In addition we had 14 000 cases or MDR TB
Estimated TB prevalence in SA 737/100 000
Estimated latent TB in SA is 80 % of SA population. 2019
SA total population 58,775,022
Therefore estimated TB @ 737/100K = 433 172 TB cases 2019
Kzn population 11,289,086
Therefore estimated TB @ 737/100K = 83 199 TB cases 2021
Ethekwini Pop 3.176 000
Therefore estimated TB @ 737/100K = 23 407 TB cases
2019 to 2021 there was 48% less TB testing done due to the pandemic
Worldwide TB has gone back from 2019 to the situation of 2005
In 2020 there were 1,500,000 deaths due to TB disease
In 2019 over 205,000 children died of TB disease
In 2021, in the Mercury Newspaper, the then Health MEC Nomagugu
Simelane-Zulu announced that “KZN was the new epicentre of SA’s
TB epidemic.
Of course then came Covid!
In the fight against Covid, TB treatment and the supply of TB drugs to patients
became negligible with the consequence that TB rates have climbed through
the roof. Up to the present day this situation has not been reversed!
The biggest problem is lack of Governmental support for the fight against
TB disease and a failing Health system throughout South Africa.