Cape Town TB Control - Progress Report 1997-2003

The Cape Town Metro TB progress report documents the progress made in the TB Control programme in the last 6 years, from 1997 to 2003. The focus of the report is on the TB programme performance indicators, but it also addresses issues of Monitoring and quality assurance, the cost of TB Treatment and TB and HIV/AIDS/STI integration.

Introduction

The reported incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the Western Cape, particularly in Cape Town, continues to be amongst the highest in the world, complicated and exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Effective management of TB remains one of the key principles of Provincial and Local Government health services. The increasing recognition that HIV is fuelling the TB epidemic in high HIV prevalence populations and that TB is a leading cause of HIV-related morbidity and mortality, has led to broad multisectoral strategic plans to guide the response to both pandemics.

In Cape Town, TB Control has improved significantly. This report provides an overview of TB control from 1997 to 2003. The purpose of the report is:

• To document the progress of the TB Control Programme in the district over the past seven years
• To acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by all involved in the TB Control Programme, particularly the staff working on a daily basis with people suffering from TB
• To highlight the resources and systems required for the provision of adequate TB services
• To stimulate discussion with other interested parties who can contribute and enrich our efforts to improve TB Control in South Africa
• To inform and influence health policy and planning decisions in TB control.

It is intended that future reports will be integrated to include HIV/AIDS and STI indicators. This will be the last TB report according to the eleven sub-districts and future reports will be according to the new eight sub-districts, which means that subdistrict profiles will change. The Metropole TB Working Group would welcome discussion on this report and invites readers to e-mail responses to: Judy Caldwell (jcaldwel@pgwc.gov.za) Virginia Azevedo (Virginia.Azevedo@capetown.gov.za). For detailed sub-district data, please contact the authors.