Southern African countries join hands to fight drug resistant TB

Healthy ministers from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries met in Maputo, Mozambique on Friday to discuss the challenges of Extremely Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) to the region, a media statement said on Tuesday.

SADC Spokeswoman Lebo Lebese said on Tuesday: "It's a regional issue now, we are taking it seriously."

The statement by the SADC ministers said: "Ministers agreed XDR TB is a challenge that would need a regional approach, taking into consideration the free movement of people within the region and continent."

The XDR TB discussion was chaired by Lesotho's Minister of Health Motloheloa Phooko and was convened on Friday during the second session of the African Union ministers of health in Maputo.

XDR TB is multi-drug resistance tuberculosis that does not respond to at least three of the second-line TB treatments.

In the statement, South African Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang reported that cases of XDR TB had been found in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Free State.

"This could mean that there are other XDR TB cases in the country and in the region as these reported cases were identified by special interventions," the statement said.

The ministers said in the statement that no new TB drugs and diagnostic tests were developed in the past 30 years, "making XDR TB much more difficult to treat because of the limitations of drugs".

"Effective treatment of TB requires more than two drugs, which then means we have to bring back the drugs that were taken off shelves..." the ministers said.

It was also acknowledged that there was multi-drug resistant TB in the region.

The ministers proposed strengthening the normal TB program; enhancing surveillance systems; developing diagnostics techniques for treatment; strengthening infection control; encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to develop new drugs and diagnostics techniques; developing a preparedness plan on XDR TB within member states and dealing with the challenge at a regional level.

It was further decided that TB experts and program managers meet as a matter of urgency before the end of the year. SADC officials will also attend the forthcoming XDR TB meeting to be scheduled between the World Health Organization and Tshabalala- Msimang.

The ministers mandated that the SADC secretariat based in Botswana should coordinate information sharing within the region.

The statement concluded that a SADC regional approach to the management of XDR TB must be effected and regional cooperation and sharing of information between countries should also continue.

The Ministers agreed that the magnitude of XDR TB in the region needed to be determined.

Globally, this strain has been reported in several other countries including the USA and Latvia, which have 4 percent and 19 percent prevalence rates respectively.

Source: Xinhua