March 22, 2006
By Shamin Chibba
A CROWD of people marches towards the Orlando East Communal Hall in Soweto singing "TB siyanqoba", TB will be conquered; they are part of a church-linked group that assists the Directly Observed Treatment Strategy or Dots programme.
The group delivers free house-to-house treatment for tuberculosis (TB) sufferers who cannot make the trip to their local clinics.
The celebratory mood is part of the City of Johannesburg health department's TB awareness campaign, held on Friday, 17 March in preparation for World TB Day on 24 March. The theme for this year is "Actions for life: towards a world free of tuberculosis".
'TB siyanqoba', TB will be conquered, sings the crowd
According to the provincial TB co-ordinator, Fredricka Mkwanazi, the Dots group is on the road everyday in a bid to combat the disease. "They look for TB cases and for patients who have interrupted their treatment," says Mkwanazi, referring to TB sufferers who are treated for a short period and then discontinue their medication because they feel healthier. "They also check the conditions the TB patients are living in and provide health education to the community."
TB is a bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs. It destroys the soft tissue and creates holes in the lungs, resulting in breathing difficulties. TB travels through the blood, which then affects other parts of the body. If untreated, it can be fatal. The disease is contagious and if a TB victim spits, sneezes or even coughs, the germ can spread into the air. A person who breathes this air can then become infected.
Symptoms of TB include continuous coughing for more than two weeks, chest pains, lethargy and weakness of the body, loss of appetite, weight loss, extensive sweating at night and coughing up of blood.
The community is made aware of the disease through various means, Mkwanazi explains. "We use the media – the local radio station, Jozi FM, as well as local newspapers. We also utilise the churches in educating the community about TB."
It is a notifiable disease, which means a sufferer needs to be registered at a clinic or hospital. In 2005 there were 18 278 cases of people diagnosed with the disease, of which 2 201 were children. In February this year 1 492 TB sufferers were registered for treatment.
According to Joburg's regional health manager, Thembi Mathloko, who addressed Friday's crowd at the hall, 13 percent of TB patients interrupt their treatment for a number of reasons. One of these is that their families and communities, who believe that a person with TB is also HIV-positive, often reject sufferers.
In addition, sufferers feel so much better – even cured – after being on the TB drugs for a month, that they believe they no longer need treatment, Mathloko says. It is often not possible to contact patients for continuing treatment, because they give the wrong residential address at the clinic. "TB is becoming worse because [of this]," she adds.
People with normal TB and pulmonary TB are treated for six months. Those with extra-pulmonary TB are treated for nine months. Dots is a programme to ensure patients take the medication for the required length of time; an appointed person watches them take their treatment each day.
However, the disease can be eradicated – and the first step in that direction is getting a free TB test at your local clinic. "If you have a cough, go to the clinic. Let us fight for a world free of TB," Mathloko says.
Lorna Fisher, a founding member of the Persevere Until Something Happens (Push) volunteer programme that offers counselling to people from disadvantaged communities, stresses that people should change their attitudes if they are to beat TB and HIV.
"If we do not change our behaviour, we will not win. We must start listening, not with our ears but with our hearts," says Fisher. "You have to love yourself so that we can beat these diseases."
The campaign also highlights the relationship between TB and HIV. The chance of a person contracting TB is greater if they are HIV-positive, as the virus depletes the body's immune system. This means that communities in which HIV is prevalent are more vulnerable to TB.
However, TB is curable even if one is HIV-positive.
"You must walk in [to a clinic] and decide you want to know your HIV status," says Fisher. People can also go to Push if they think they are not sick enough to go to clinics.
More campaigns, aiming to support those diagnosed with TB and increase public awareness of the disease, will take place throughout the city until 31 March.
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