CAPE TOWN, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Deputy President David Mabuza on Friday reaffirmed the government's determination to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030.
South Africa will work with other countries and global partners to achieve this goal by 2030 in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, said Mabuza, who is also Chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC).
The SANAC is charged with coordinating South Africa's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, bringing together stakeholders from government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, civil society, activists, health workers as well as religious and community leaders.
"In order to defeat the scourge of TB, it is of paramount importance that we provide leadership and work together to accelerate our national and global collective actions, investments, research and innovations urgently to fight this preventable and treatable disease of tuberculosis," Mabuza said.
He was speaking as South Africa was preparing itself to participate in the first UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in New York on September 26.
Earlier on Friday, Mabuza convened a special consultative SANAC plenary meeting at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
After the UN High Level Meeting, it is crucial that South Africa immediately develops its own implementation plan that will take the meeting's resolutions forward, Mabuza said.
Currently the government is seeking to screen and test 14 million people for HIV and TB annually over the next three years.
According to the World Health Organization, TB remains among the top 10 leading causes of death globally.
