The Sunday News
THE southern parts of the country have recorded almost double the number of Tuberculosis cases compared to the northern parts at any given time, Government statistics have revealed.
Data released by the Ministry of Health and Child Care during a stakeholders meeting in Gweru recently, showed that southern parts of the country had a TB prevalence rate of 500 cases per 100 000 population while the northern region recorded 300 cases per 100 000 population.
The ministry’s deputy director for HIV/AIDS and TB, Dr Charles Sandy attributed the high prevalence rate of TB to high prevalence rate of HIV in the southern part of the country.
“We have recorded about 500 cases per 100 000 population in TB cases in the Southern region while we also recorded 300 cases per 100 000 population in the Northern part of the country.
“We suspect that the high prevalence rate is due to the high rate of HIV cases recorded in the Southern region.
We also suspect that the major cause of the high rate of HIV and TB in the Southern region is due to high rate of migration by the people in the region to neighbouring countries,” said Dr Sandy.
He said youths in the region were exposed to harsh conditions in neighbouring countries resulting in the high prevalence rates for TB and HIV cases in the same region.
“According to statistics, South Africa has recorded 1 000 cases of TB per 100 000 population which could be the major contributing factor to rampant cases of TB in the Southern region,” he said.
According to National AIDS Council (NAC) statistics, Matabeleland South has the highest rate of HIV prevalence with 21 percent, followed by Bulawayo with 19 percent and then Matabeleland North with 18 percent.
Statistics released by ZimStat indicate that 2 411 410 people had officially crossed the country’s borders by road as of 2010.
The number has since increased due to rampant cases of illegal emigration in the southern region of the country.
Dr Sandy said, however, Zimbabwe had recorded a decrease in the number of recorded cases of TB as compared to previous years.
He said this was due to the increase in access to early diagnosis of TB in the country.
“We have recorded a drop in the TB prevalence rate. We have a TB prevalence rate of 500 cases per 100 000 population. We are working towards increasing diagnostic machines in the country. At the moment we have acquired two diagnostic machines for every province from China,” he said.
Zimbabwe recorded over 603 TB cases for every 100 000 population in 2011.
It was during the same consultative meetings that the ministry revealed that the country had last conducted Drug Resistant TB assessment in 1994.
Mr Nicholas Siziba, an official in the ministry, said the cases of Drug Resistant TB continue to escalate.
“We last conducted MDR TB assessment in 1994. This has become a big challenge to us because we do not have any idea of the rate at which it is spreading and the number of unreported cases we have in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The ministry was also reviewing the National TB control strategic plan for 2015 to 2017.
