Northern Cape battles to control TB
Due to the vast distances between towns and smaller settlements, many residents rely on Primary Healthcare (PHC) clinics. The province has escalated its expenditure on PHC per person by R77 over the last four years.
However, the province has recorded a serious deterioration in the tuberculosis cure rate from 64,6 percent in 2003 to 38,3 percent in 2004. Researchers point out that this could be due data unreliability in one or both years.
The data, if accurate, indicates that the Frances Baard district (around Kimberley), which contains more than one third of the province’s population, had the largest deterioration in TB cure rate in South Africa ‘ from 60,8 percent in 2003 to 20,1 percent in 2004.
Namakwa district, which has the lowest population density in the country (one person per square kilometre), is the least deprived district in the province and spends R398 per person on PHC. Despite this, less people are using the clinics than in previous years.
HIV testing of pregnant mothers has improved significantly from around 16,4 percent in 2004 to almost 60 percent a year later. In 2005 the HIV prevalence among pregnant women was around 14 percent with only 28 percent of these HIV positive women receiving Nevirapine (the lowest in the country). Over 90 percent of their babies did receive treatment.
The distribution of condoms is also the lowest in the country with each male receiving an average of 5 condoms a year. This figure has remained unchanged over the past three years.
Almost all households in the Northern Cape have access to piped water.
Researchers questioned the quality of data gathering in the province with several discrepancies and improbabilities.
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