World TB Day 2026: Delayed Diagnosis Puts Thousands at Risk World TB Day 2026: South Africa is failing to reach men who are most at risk of TB
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As World TB Day is marked across the globe, new data reveals a critical gap in South Africa’s fight against tuberculosis (TB) as the country fails to to reach the men most at risk.
The warning comes from the TB Accountability Consortium’s fifth annual State of TB report, Deep diving into the TB Dashboard: How data can drive advocacy and accountability.
The report highlights a stark mismatch between testing efforts and infection rates, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the national response.
Drawing on the first ten months of data from South Africa’s newly launched public TB dashboard — introduced in October last year to improve transparency and access — the report paints a troubling picture. While women account for nearly 61% of TB tests conducted, men account for more than 60% of all TB diagnoses.
Men are simply being tested less, but are far more likely to have TB when they are tested.
The findings have been echoed at the highest levels of government. Speaking at national commemorations in the Western Cape, Deputy President Paul Mashatile acknowledged the disparity and called for urgent action.
Addressing community members, healthcare workers and civil society groups, Mashatile urged men to come forward for screening.
“We have recognised that it’s mostly men who don’t test, and we want to make a call for them to visit their nearest clinics to be screened and tested for TB,” he said.
He noted that while testing rates remain lower among men, those who do get tested are more likely to be diagnosed.
“Even though fewer men are being tested, according to the recently launched TB public-facing dashboard, their positivity rate is much higher,” Mashatile added.
The public dashboard itself marks a significant shift in South Africa’s TB response. For the first time, near real-time data on testing, diagnoses and trends is freely accessible to communities, researchers and policymakers. Since its launch, TB testing has already increased by around 10%, suggesting that improved transparency can drive action.
But experts warn that data alone will not solve the problem.
“This is the most urgent signal coming out of the data. The populations most at risk of TB are the ones we are not reaching. If we do not fix that, we will not end TB,” said Russell Rensburg, project director at the consortium.
Rensburg stressed that the dashboard is a tool, not a solution, and that its value depends on how effectively the information is used. Current trends, he said, demand a fundamental rethink of how men are engaged in TB prevention and care.
The report calls for a series of urgent, targeted measures, including expanding workplace and community-based testing, introducing more flexible and male-friendly clinic hours, and using data to focus interventions in high-burden districts. It also emphasises the need for stronger advocacy and accountability across the health system.
South Africa remains one of the countries hardest hit by TB, with an estimated 56,000 deaths each year, despite the disease being both preventable and curable.
The message from this year’s World TB Day is clear: without reaching men, the country’s fight against TB risks falling short.
Meanwhile, Dr Imran Keeka, the DA's provincial spokesperson on health said KZN’s Health Portfolio Committee has made every reasonable effort to launch a provincial TB Caucus, an essential step to align oversight with the realities of this epidemic.
"Regrettably, these efforts have been frustrated by the conduct of a single senior official within the Office of the Premier, whose obstruction has delayed progress since last year.
"The DA will call upon KZN Premier, Thami Ntuli, to intervene decisively. It is intolerable that this single individual’s stubbornness should impede a response to a disease that is both preventable and curable," he said.
Keeka added that the KZN Department of Health’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) targets a 77% treatment success rate and a 10% reduction in TB incidence and mortality annually.
"It recognises the strong linkage between TB and HIV, and the need for integrated case finding through index testing and provider-initiated counselling. Emerging tools such as AI-assisted diagnostics and TB-NAAT, a test that can detect some drug-resistant TB strains, are noted as advances.
"However, persistent challenges remain; poor adherence to treatment, loss to follow-up, and the growing threat of drug-resistant TB," he said.