Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - The high number of mine workers with tuberculosis (TB) has a huge impact on the economy, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Tuesday.
"This disease, which is the leading cause of death in our country, has a huge impact on workforce productivity and operational costs in an industry that contributes almost 20% to South Africa's GDP," Motlanthe said at a TB in the mining sector regional meeting in Sandton.
TB prevalence was higher in mining communities than in the general population.
Motlanthe said TB contracted in mines placed a huge burden on the public sector health system.
"The fact that disease rates have been disproportionately high for more than a century has contributed to the build-up of unresolved legacy issues for an industry in which appropriate humane standards of treatment, care, workers' protection, and compensation have rarely been comprehensively enforced," he said.
TB was not just a health issue, but also a labour and development issue.
"Of the 54 countries on the African continent, 46 have mineral resources of commercial importance," he said.
Global Fund
Meanwhile, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved R500m to treat TB in SA, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday.
"We are going to screen 150 000 inmates at the correctional services facilities and 500 000 mine workers in South Africa," Motsoaledi said in Johannesburg.
Health teams would conduct a follow-up with families of people found to have TB.
"The 600 000 people who stay around the mines will also be screened. Without doing this job we won't know what we are dealing with," he said.
Mine workers and prison inmates would receive verbal screening, which included checking if people had chest pains, coughing or had lost weight.
They would also have tests done using the GeneXpert technology.
"Those that are found positive will start treatment," Motsoaledi said.
He said 405 000 people in SA were on treatment for TB.
"This disease, which is the leading cause of death in our country, has a huge impact on workforce productivity and operational costs in an industry that contributes almost 20% to South Africa's GDP," Motlanthe said at a TB in the mining sector regional meeting in Sandton.
TB prevalence was higher in mining communities than in the general population.
Motlanthe said TB contracted in mines placed a huge burden on the public sector health system.
"The fact that disease rates have been disproportionately high for more than a century has contributed to the build-up of unresolved legacy issues for an industry in which appropriate humane standards of treatment, care, workers' protection, and compensation have rarely been comprehensively enforced," he said.
TB was not just a health issue, but also a labour and development issue.
"Of the 54 countries on the African continent, 46 have mineral resources of commercial importance," he said.
Global Fund
Meanwhile, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved R500m to treat TB in SA, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday.
"We are going to screen 150 000 inmates at the correctional services facilities and 500 000 mine workers in South Africa," Motsoaledi said in Johannesburg.
Health teams would conduct a follow-up with families of people found to have TB.
"The 600 000 people who stay around the mines will also be screened. Without doing this job we won't know what we are dealing with," he said.
Mine workers and prison inmates would receive verbal screening, which included checking if people had chest pains, coughing or had lost weight.
They would also have tests done using the GeneXpert technology.
"Those that are found positive will start treatment," Motsoaledi said.
He said 405 000 people in SA were on treatment for TB.
