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A Tuberculosis vaccination injection.
The Gauteng government is expected to observe World Stop TB Day in the mining town of Merafong in the West Rand today.
This is to raise awareness of the importance of early detection and treatment of Tuberculosis.
MEDIA ADVISORY || Gauteng Premier to Lead World Stop TB DayCommemoration in Merafong pic.twitter.com/RkazdOgPUc
— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) March 26, 2025
Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motaletale Modiba says the commemoration, which will include TB screenings and HIV testing, will be held in Merafong.
This is due to the high prevalence of TB in mines and mining communities.
“The West Rand in particular because the West Rand District is home to some of Gauteng’s largest gold mining operations and has a TB incidence rate of 544 per 100 000 in the mining sector, which is significantly higher than the national average of 270 per 100 000. The province hopes to ensure that we accelerate the TB and HIV screening services among communities, particularly in those mining communities,” adds Modiba.
Health Minister on TB stats
Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says that more people die from Tuberculosis than from a multitude of well-known diseases combined.
Motsoaledi was speaking in Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal during a World TB Day commemoration earlier this week.
He says ebola, malaria, yellow fever, the bubonic plague that nearly wiped out one-third of Europe, smallpox, HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, influenza, and Mpox and put together, TB has killed more people than all of them, but still nobody is scared of it.
Motsoaledi says government is launching a programme to test five million people annually.
He noted that early detection and treatment will reduce deaths.
