By CHILA NAMAIKO –

THE increase in the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) uptake among patients on Tuberculosis (TB) treatment, coupled with more diagnostic centres in Southern Province, has increased the cure rates to 89.3 per cent in 2014 from 87.8 per cent in 2012.
Provincial medical officer Jelita Chinyonga said TB patients were being tested for HIV/AIDS hence an increase in the TB programmes from 71 per cent in 2013 to 87.5 per cent in 2014.
She said the province has increased the number of TB prevention diagnostic sites to 36 and microscopic sites to 20 which has helped in improving diagnostic of the disease in communities.
Dr Chinyonga said this in a statement on the progress of TB prevention and control activities for the province alongside the commemoration of World TB Day on Tuesday.
“TB affects all the 13 districts in Southern Province. We have noted that the notifications are actually declining in the last three years from 4,922 in 2012 t0 3, 978 in 2015,” she said.
This year’s World TB Day commemoration was held under the theme ‘Reach the 3 million, Find Treat, Cure TB”.
Dr Chinyonga said the success in TB treatment in the province was attributed to increased ART programmes spread across the province resulting in increased cure rates.
She said the number of people dying from TB has reduced to 4.4 per cent with all deaths being fully investigated with a few challenges such as weak community partnerships.