Mhangura, 12 June 2015 The commitment was made during the belated commemoration of World TB Day which was held at Mhangura Primary School.  Globally, World TB Day is commemorated on the 24th of March each year, but Zimbabwe held a belated commemoration on 12 June under the theme; Reach the three million: Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone. The theme is a call for concerted efforts from all towards realizing an end to the TB scourge by 2035, and its aimed at motivating action to accelerate efforts to reach everyone with high quality diagnosis and care services early to effectively stem the tide against TB.

In a statement read on his behalf by Honorable  Faber Chidarikire, Minister of State Provincial Affairs, Mashonaland West, who also stood in as the Chief Guest for the function, the Honorable Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said his Ministry is committed to ensuring Universal Health Coverage and improving the quality of life for all Zimbabwean citizens and have, in line with this commitment, made TB treatment in Zimbabwe accessible to all free of charge at the point of service delivery. Dr Parirenyatwa said the country has just recently completed a Nationwide TB Prevalence Survey and the preliminary results indicate that the prevalence of TB in the country at 325/100 000 in 2014 is lower than the WHO estimate of prevalence in 2014. “The burden of TB has significantly come down, but I call upon all stakeholders and partners to intensify the support and actions in addressing TB by expanding their scope of investment so that we can kick TB out of our population,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

In his statement, WHO Representative, Dr David Okello commended the progress being made by the Ministry of Health and Child Care towards addressing the problem of TB in the country. “ WHO is very pleased with the progress made in the recent past to deal with TB in Zimbabwe,” he said. Dr Okello, however, reminded all that there are still major challenges in reaching all TB vulnerable populations especially in prisons, mines and other congregate settings; and in addressing the issue of drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) adequately. These problems, he said,  threaten to derail all the gains made to reduce TB mortality among populations in the country. He then reiterated WHO’s commitment to help the Ministry of Health in the fight to end TB.