South Africa
TB screening back on track after #Covid-19 - NICD─── 08:39 Mon, 08 Aug 2022
The Covid-19 pandemic dealt a blow to other healthcare issues, like the treatment of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis (TB).
This as resources had to be redirected from other programmes in order to help fight the pandemic.
Now, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says, nationally, the screening and diagnosis of TB has recovered from Covid-19 disruptions.
According to the NICD, testing for TB dropped from April to August 2020.
As a result, the National Department of Health, guided by the NICD's monthly TB testing surveillance reports, implemented a TB recovery plan to increase screening, diagnosis, and treatment outcomes.
Through the plan, the department aimed to find undiagnosed people with TB through community screening via the Targeted Universal TB Testing (TUT) programme.
