First-of-a-kind TB dashboard launched

Source: ©Vitaliy Vodolazskyy 123rf

Also in the Western Cape the total number of TB cases diagnosed between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 was 38,846 with 1,578 (4.1%) of these being drug-resistant.

The total number of confirmed deaths associated with TB in the previous year was 4,078. In total, 186,097 GXP tests were conducted in the previous year, with 17% being positive, and 4.2% of these showing drug resistance.

Implementing the TB response plan

The TB dashboard will assist in monitoring the implementation of the Province’s Multisectoral TB response plan.This follows the Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde’s commitment in his State of the Province Address that the TB epidemic be treated with the same seriousness as the fight against Covid-19.

“The TB response plan, through the use of this interactive TB dashboard, aims to get our TB response back on track, promote transparency and digitise our response,” says Winde.

“I also pledged to use the lessons learnt from our agile Covid-19 response in the fight against TB. The provision of up-to-date public data that enables behaviour change and monitors the success of government interventions is a key part of this,” adds Winde.

Covid-19 dashboard modelled

The dashboard is modelled on the Covid-19 dashboard and includes data on TB cases, deaths, tests, test positivity and drug resistance, from 2015 onwards. These are aggregated and updated monthly to ensure that clinical and laboratory data are representative of the included period.

A number of headline (top centre) data elements are reported for a selected date range (automatically set to the previous year).

These include:

• TB Tests (GXP): The total number of first-line GeneXpert (GXP) tests done in the provincial public sector to screen for TB or confirm a TB diagnosis.
• Percentage Positivity: This refers to the proportion of all GeneXpert tests for the given selected period which were positive, reflected as a percentage.
• Number of TB cases in the Western Cape: The total number of diagnosed TB cases in the province, whether through laboratory tests, X-rays and/or clinically by a healthcare practitioner.
• TB cases in the previous month: This is the total number of TB cases diagnosed, by any means, in the final calendar month of the given date period.
• Number of TB Deaths: This is the total number of deaths that have been associated with TB in the Western Cape for the given date range (date of death in the date range).