On the 24th of March, World Tuberculosis Day,
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) marched to the National Parliament demanding
accountability from our government on Drug Resistance TB. Several thousand
people joined TAC’s march to parliament to mark World TB Day by handing over a
memorandum addressed to the Secretary of Parliament.
“We are
marching to ask MPs to show their solidarity with the people by getting tested
for TB,” TAC said in the memorandum. “TB has for far too long been a part of
how we live and die in South Africa.
Many people
in our communities still die of TB. According to Statistics South Africa, TB is
the most commonly reported cause of death in South Africa. We know that if things
do not Change dramatically, many of us marching today will die of TB.”
According
to TAC, in 2012, 8.6 million people fell ill with TB and 1.3 million died from
TB. It is a leading killer of people living with HIV causing one fifth of all
deaths.
Carrying
banners written things like “Better TB treatment now”, “We die of TB”, “MPs =
TB suspects”, marchers burst into song through the streets of Cape Town from
Keizersgracht to parliament.
In the memo
handed to deputy secretary of parliament Baby Tyawa by TAC member Phumeza
Runeyi, TAC and other civil society movements including Sonke, Diamond Life
Projects, SPII, SWEAT, the People’s Health Movement, Medecins sans Frontieres,
the United Front and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, called on MPs to test for
TB, and to hold relevant government departments accountable for their response
to TB.
In the memorandum TAC demands the following:
- The
availability of Multi drug TB treatment.
- Decentralization
of XDR and MDR treatment/care and services
- Better
diagnostic tools for MDR & XDR patients
- TB in prisons
(Better management of TB in prison)
- Access to
multi drug TB treatment
The
organisations called on the Department of Health to improve access to
treatment, including drugs such as bedaquiline and linezolid, on the Department
of Justice and Correctional Services to deal with overcrowding in prisons, on
the Department of Trade and Industry to reform the patent laws so that TB medicines
would become affordable, on the Departments of Mineral Resources and Public Works
to improve air quality and ventilation in mines, prisons, hospitals and other
public buildings, and on the Department of Science and Technology to increase
research into new TB medicines.
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