TOTT 25 April 2019

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Talk of the Town 5
YOUR VOICE
... vox pops on the street
‘How has the
rain affected
your life?’
DISCUSSING HEALTHCARE: Speakers and stakeholders recently gathered for World TB Day at Marjorie Parish TB Hospital to
discuss ways of fighting the disease
MARISKA MARX: I
personally think we
have been blessed
to have the rain; it
has been dry for a
very long time.
FREDERICK HILPERT:
It has affected me a
lot. It has done some
damages in my
house in Station Hill.
ELVIS BINGQELA: To
me it has been a
blessing. We have
been suffering from
drought for a very
long time. I am sure
even the farmers are
h a p p y.
THEMBELANI
MACINGWANE: We are
supposed to be
travelling to Engcobo
for a funeral. We are
afraid to do so
because we heard that
the roads are terrible.
DESMOND HILPERT: I
am a person who
normally walks from
job to job, so it
hasn’t been easy
doing that for the
past few days.
PHILASANDE HABI: I
think we are very
lucky to have these
rains. It has been
dry and our gardens
have been
s u f fe r i n g .
Leading the fight against TB
Marjorie Parish TB Hospital and Ndlambe
primary healthcare providers, with
support from the USAID TB South Africa
Project, invited all stakeholders and civil
society to meet and discuss ways of
fighting TB in Ndlambe for 2019 World TB
Day recently.
The theme was “It’s time for religious
leaders and politicians to lead the fight
against TB”.
“Tuberculosis remains the leading killer
disease in South Africa despite the fact
that it is curable and effective treatment
is available free of charge from
government clinics,” USAID TB South
Africa Project’s Simphiwe Mayaphi said.
He said the purpose of the get-together
on World TB Day was to discuss
challenges facing the Eastern Cape
department of health in the fight against
TB and to source help and contribution
from various stakeholders going forward
in the fight as the department of health
said it could not win the battle alone.
Among the challenges that were
highlighted by the department of health
are the high death rate and high failure of
follow up among TB patients.
More than 5% of TB patients either die
or disappear before the end of the
six-month treatment period, Mayaphi said.
Some of the concerns raised by the
various stakeholders include:
ýLack of health education at various
platforms about TB (at schools, on radio
stations, in churches, in the transport
sector, etc);
ýOvercrowding at police cells
conducive for the spread of TB infection
as there is also poor ventilation;
ýCommunity members never want to
disclose their health issues upon arrest
resulting in them not continuing with
t reatment;
ýSubstance abuse one of the serious
issues, alcohol and dagga smoking
(regulatory control absent); and
ýLack of poverty alleviation initiatives
(eg, recycling, etc).
Among the steps taken at the meeting
were that a TB survivor has made herself
available to assist with health education
and stigmatisation of TB in the area free
of charge.
Delegates said people need to indicate
availability for Ndlambe FM every
Thursday from 7 to 9pm to provide health
e d u c at i o n .
“There’s a great need to act, a need to
take ownership,” Mayaphi said.
Delegates also suggested a related
need to regulate tavern operating hours
and the age of people entering the
t av e r n s .
In public healthcare interests, the
meeting agreed that people locked in the
police cells need to be screened upon
arrest to exclude TB patients.
Mayaphi said the department of
education had committed to open doorsto
the department of health for health
education. The Council of Churches will
also open slots for health education, and
politicians present committed to open a
slot about TB at every gathering.