Motsoaledi attends TB meeting

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi departed on Sunday to attend an international tuberculosis meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Department spokesman Fidel Hadebe said Motsoaledi was one of three international health ministers serving in the 34 member board which meets yearly.

The board includes researchers, academics, representatives of drug development companies and non-government organisations from across the globe.

"Among the issues that the Health minister is expected to make input on how countries are responding to the TB-HIV/Aids epidemic with South Africa having one of the highest HIV-TB co-infection rate," said Hadebe.

During the review of the TB programme last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated that about 490,000 people have contracted TB in South Africa.

Motsoaledi is also scheduled to speak on the country's acceleration of it's multi-drug resistant and extensively drug resistant TB programme. - (Sapa, May 2010)