South Africa Relaunches Parliamentary TB Caucus to Strengthen National Leadership

Parliament, together with the Department of Health and the South African National AIDS Council, has relaunched the South African Tuberculosis Caucus, reaffirming a national commitment to accelerate the response to one of the country’s most urgent public health challenges. TB remains the leading cause of death from an infectious disease in South Africa, with an estimated 270,000 new infections and more than 50,000 related deaths recorded in the past year.

Speaking at the relaunch, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi described the caucus as a vital bridge between political leadership, the health sector and communities. He called on Parliament to ensure the caucus maintains momentum and does not fade into inactivity as it had after its original launch in 2018. Dr Motsoaledi emphasised that the success of the national response would be measured by reduced mortality, increased treatment success and restored dignity for every person affected by TB. He also highlighted the scale of the End TB Campaign which aims to test five million people for TB each year and announced a near live TB data dashboard that now allows South Africa to track testing patterns in real time across age groups, genders and regions.

Parliament echoed this call to action. Acting Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health Tembalam Xego affirmed that the fight against TB requires coordinated commitment across all branches of government and every province, backed by strong engagement with communities and civil society. Partners from the advocacy sector noted that the new dashboard would support accountability by helping the country find TB faster and in the places where people are most at risk.

As the caucus resumes its work, national partners expressed confidence that renewed political leadership can drive the sustained action needed to protect communities and move the country closer to ending TB by 2030. The Global TB Caucus welcomes this revitalisation of parliamentary leadership and remains committed to supporting members as they strengthen oversight, advance integrated lung health and promote equitable access to diagnosis and care for all.