SA is facing double trouble on the health front, and this year the prognosis is not good. SA is facing double trouble on the health front, and this year the prognosis is not good.There are 5,7m people infected with HIV, or one in nine of the total population, with new infections running at 1300 a day. About 1000 HIV/Aids deaths are recorded officially daily. The number infected with tuberculosis (TB) - a disease that was once on the way to being eradicated - has trebled to 340000 in 10 years. SA now has the worst TB infection rate in Africa and the fourth-highest in the world.The reasons are not hard to find: years of underfunding, poor management systems and chronic staff shortages.Health minister Barbara Hogan has put TB and HIV/Aids, and their co-existence in many patients, high on her agenda. However, when the FM asked what practical steps were being taken to fight TB and how many people were at risk of being infected, the otherwise outspoken minister seemed media-shy.It would...
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