South Africa Relaunches SA TB Caucus to Strengthen the Fight Against Tuberculosis
- Karabo Makgato
In a renewed effort to end one of the country’s deadliest epidemics, the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, together with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Thoko Didiza, relaunched the South African Tuberculosis (TB) Caucus in Parliament, Cape Town on the 28 October 2025. The relaunch marks a pivotal step in mobilising political leadership to drive accountability and accelerate progress towards ending TB in South Africa.
The event, coordinated by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) as the in-country Secretariat, was held in collaboration with the National Assembly, the Department of Health, and the TB Accountability Consortium (TBAC). The launch was preceded by a National Assembly debate led by Minister Motsoaledi on “The Status of TB in South Africa” where members of parliament thoroughly engaged on the subject matter.
South Africa continues to face a severe TB epidemic, with the disease remaining the leading cause of death, claiming around 56,000 lives annually. The country ranks among the top 30 high-burden TB countries globally, with about 54% of people with TB also living with HIV. Despite TB being both curable and preventable, only a quarter of those infected are successfully treated each year.
Speaking at the relaunch, Minister Motsoaledi emphasised the importance of political leadership in combating TB, “Our success as a country will be gauged by reduced mortality, increased treatment success, and restored dignity for every South African living with or affected by TB.” The Minister described the TB Caucus as a “bridge between political leadership, the health sector, and communities,” a platform to ensure sustained advocacy, resource mobilisation, and accountability in the national TB response.
Delivering the opening remarks, SANAC CEO, Dr Thembisile Xulu, who also served as programme director, underscored SANAC’s coordination role in uniting government, civil society, private sector and development partners to respond collectively to HIV, TB and STIs. She highlighted the alignment of the TB Caucus relaunch with the mid-term review of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, TB and STIs 2023–2028, reminding attendees that measurable progress must translate into lives saved.
“We are gathered here to relaunch the South African TB Caucus, a process to renew our leadership and collective accountability in the fight against tuberculosis. The Caucus brings together the voice of Parliament, reminding us of the critical role that parliamentarians can play in ending TB as a public health threat,” said Dr Xulu.
SANAC CEO called for intensified efforts to find and treat the missing TB patients, scale up shorter, improved treatment regimens, and expand TB preventive therapy (TPT) coverage with new, shorter regimens. Dr Xulu also stressed the importance of securing reliable supply chains and local manufacturing capacity to prevent medicine and diagnostic stockouts that jeopardise treatment success. “This Caucus will be our collective engine, driving accountability, coordination, and innovation, so that we can measure our success not in plans or reports, but in the lives saved and communities restored,” she concluded.
The South African TB Caucus was first established in 2018 following the creation of the Global TB Caucus in 2014, a non-partisan global network bringing together parliamentarians from around the world to advance TB prevention, treatment, research, and policy reform. Dr Motsoaledi co-chaired the Global Caucus at its inception.
During the 6th Administration, Parliament recognised TB as one of South Africa’s primary public health challenges, forming a local chapter to align national efforts with the global movement. However, as Minister Motsoaledi noted, the local caucus had “silently disappeared” in the years that followed. “Today, we are reforming it and asking Members of Parliament, this time around, please don’t let it disappear,” the Minister urged.
The relaunch comes amid a series of new tools and strategies to strengthen the country’s response to TB. Recently, the Department of Health, in partnership with the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), launched a public-facing TB dashboard, an online platform providing real-time data on TB testing across South Africa.
As part of the End TB Campaign, the Department of Health aims to test five million people for TB during the 2025/26 financial year. According to the dashboard, 1.76 million people have already been tested since April 2025, representing over 60% of the current target, with approximately 89,000 people diagnosed with TB.
