Namibia is among the top ten countries with high tuberculosis cases in the World.

Health and Social Services Minister, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula calls on community members with TB symptoms to get tested and start receiving treatment without delay.

Dr. Shangula was speaking at the commemoration of World TB Day in Tsumkwe under the theme Yes! We can end TB!

Namibia recorded 8,604 cases of TB last year, an increase of 30% compared to 2021.

Dr. Shangula says it is devastating that TB cases are high while the disease is preventable and treatable.

Dr. Shangula also encourages door-to-door outreach programmes for people that have not started treatment, while taking septum for testing for those with symptoms.

The Ju|hoansi Traditional Authority Chief called on residents to take their treatment seriously as Tsumkwe is the hotspot of drug-resistant TB cases.

"You have heard from the testimonies that people have recovered from TB. The government spends a lot of money just to help you so take your tablets and be free of TB. Curable diseases should not be killing us."

Tsumkwe was the first area to provide drugs resistant treatment to patients without hospitalizing them.

The minister also donated GeneXpert testing equipment to enable the settlement to diagnose TB and give the patients their results instantly.

TB Foundation donated food items to TB patients, one of the determinants of the disease is poverty and malnutrition.

The foundation also gave N$61,000 sponsored by Dundee for e-bikes to enable easy transportation of TB medication to patients.