The National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme of the Department of Health will be hosting the First Coalition against Tuberculosis Summit on July 14, it was announced at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Monday.
The summit will firstly target human resource, communications and corporate social responsibility managers from the private sector, national and provincial health officials and civil society.
At the briefing, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi, the national director of the TB control programme, said employers need to be educated about TB and the treatment thereof.
“Some employers relieve workers who suffer from TB for that treatment period of six months. As a result people aren’t willing to speak out if they have the disease,” said Mvusi.
She also said that the success in fighting TB lies in the mobilisation of society to formulate effective prevention and treatment strategies.
With HIV/Aids fuelling the TB epidemic, people need to be provided with information that TB is preventable and curable, even among people living with HIV and Aids.
Socio-economic sectors can help encourage a sense of personal responsibility among South Africans, making them aware that they have an important role to play in the fight against TB.
Discussions from the conference will be taken to the ministerial and decision-making levels at a dinner hosted by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the end of July. Participants will also sign a coalition record of understanding.