One of the key recommendations from the National TB Prevalence Survey released last year was to increase “access to TB screening and testing services through outreach programmes using mobile testing and X-ray facilities”. Tiyese Jeranji takes stock of the number of mobile X-ray vans and containers across the country and plans to scale up their use.
As was the case in the rest of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to the tuberculosis (TB) response in the Free State. Refilwe Mochoari gathered the available numbers and asked the province’s health department about their plans to get the TB response back on track.
New World Health Organization guidance released this week endorses the wider use of chest X-rays and artificial intelligence for tuberculosis detection. Before these technologies can be fully utilised in South Africa, some regulatory and other issues will first have to be sorted out. Catherine Tomlinson reports.
