By Thomas Thale
HEALTH workers and volunteers from the inner city and from the provincial government will, on Friday, take to the streets of the city in a major drive to spread awareness of Tuberculosis (TB), a curable but deadly disease afflicting many poor people.
The roadshow will see an army of 40 volunteers armed with colourful banners and sporting white t-shirts driving through the city in a huge truck accompanied by drum majorettes.
Granny Morake, TB Coordinator for Region 8, said this was part of an ongoing campaign "to raise awareness about prevention and treatment of TB". Similar campaigns are planned for the Mai Mai market, Mayfair and Newtown in the near future.
In his state-of-the-nation address, President Mbeki identified TB as a "leading killer-disease" and vowed that the government will "further intensify the efforts to reduce" the incidence of the disease.
The campaign will kick off with the volunteers arriving on the grounds of Hillbrow Hospital at 9:30am. The entourage will then go down Wolmarans Street, then turn right into Rissik Street, go round the Metro Building, join Smit Street on its way to Jeppe Hostel. At the hostel, inmates will be treated to the sound of music blaring from the speakers and offered free TB testing, health education on the disease and its treatment.
Pamphlets on the disease will be distributed. The next stop for the procession will be Bertrams, where they will embark on a door-to-door educational campaign, before departing for Highpoint in Hillbrow to spread the message some more.
The number of new TB infections in the city increased from 1 258 in 2001 to 1 905 last year. The number of TB related deaths also shot up from 2% to 5% in the same period. Morake attributes this increase to the impact of HIV/Aids. "TB is an opportunistic infection that attacks people living with HIV/Aids because their immune system is weakened."
The rate of treatment interruption decreased from 24 cases recorded in 2001 to just 12 in 2002, indicating that more people are taking the full course of treatment.
