JOHANNESBURG, March 24 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Sunday that tuberculosis (TB) remained a great public health threat in South Africa, claiming more than 1.5 million lives over the last few years.

"For the past several years, it has remained the leading cause of deaths in the country. It also counts for more than half of deaths among people living with HIV, which stood at 53 percent," Phaahla said during the commemoration of World TB Day, which fell on Sunday.

While South Africa continued to be among the nations struggling with the TB pandemic, the country has made hopeful strides in recent years toward lowering the number of TB infections, Phaahla said.

The number of TB cases is expected to drop to 280,000 in 2022 from 644,000 in 2007, the minister said, adding that TB-related deaths are also falling but at a much slower rate.

Phaahla noted that South Africa will scale up the rapid uptake of new tools and innovations to combat the disease and strengthen the routine testing of TB contacts and at-risk populations.

South Africa also needs to address the socioeconomic problems to end TB, including gender inequality, poor nutrition, and poverty, according to the minister. Enditem

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