www.citizen-news.org<\/a>; Dr Karin R\u00f8nning, medical doctor with National Institute of Public Health, Norway; Kevin Carney from the US-based NGO, The United Way; Catherine Kolozsvari, Lilly, Geneva Switzerland; Nomampondo Barnabus, a community and HIV activist with The International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, SA; and Miriam Talia, Ethics and Compliance Director, Lilly SA.<\/p>\nThe South African project officer for the Lilly-SA MDR-TB programme, Thandekile Essien also accompanied the tour.<\/p>\n
Many schools, such as Masakhe \u2013 a large primary school in Duncan Village \u2013 have incorporated HIV and TB education programmes into school activities. Both the school management and SGB together with parents have actively embraced such programmes with parents granting consent for the screening of their children for TB.<\/p>\n
Screening for infectious diseases is crucial in prisons as prison conditions are highly conducive to the spread of infectious diseases. The city\u2019s Fort Glamorgan Prison is no exception. It\u2019s an older prison where communal cells are overcrowded, conditions are not conducive to good hygiene and many areas are not well ventilated.<\/p>\n
This makes the work of DWF\u2019s MDR-TB peer education programme in prisons absolutely essential in addressing the spread of TB. Some 23 very proud prisoners were handed peer educator certificates during a morning of events held for World AIDS Day (1 December annually).<\/p>\n
Peer educators and health promoters with the DWF also work within the larger urban and peri-urban areas such as Mdantsane and Dimbaza, where the tour party heard how valued these educators are. Senior management at the Dimbaza Community Health Centre told delegates that DWF peer educators played a vital role in assisting them in tracking patients \u2013 a vital service to the over-burdened clinic staff.<\/p>\n
The staff highlighted one of the biggest complicating factors in treating TB was the mobility of people \u2013 as people moved around looking for work opportunities and livelihoods, this made it very difficult for busy clinic staff to keep accurate track of them.<\/p>\n
Another issue was the heartbreaking situation where patients who had not responded to MDR or XDR-TB treatment were discharged and basically sent home to die. In preparing for their homecoming and the subsequent journey, the family needed a lot of education and social support. Here peer educators played a crucial role.<\/p>\n
Last stop was the recently refurbished 150-bed Nkqubela Hospital, situated next to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane. The group met with senior nursing and clinical staff from both Nkqubela and Fort Grey Hospital near East London airport.<\/p>\n
The executive manager of Fort Grey Hospital, Mrs N. Nqini explained that the two hospitals were the main referral hospitals for the eastern region of the province, covering a very large area. The Eastern Cape is roughly the size of Uruguay at 168 966\u00a0square kilometres.<\/em><\/p>\nWhile Fort Grey is still the biggest MDR-TB treatment facility in the region, more and more patients will be referred to Nkqubela now that it has been upgraded. The plan is to double capacity over the next few years.<\/p>\n
A big part of their work is outreach where they do a lot of capacity building in all 6 provincial districts. Here they relied heavily on DWF peer educators, Mrs Nqini said, adding that the educators tracked and traced patients who had stopped their treatment.<\/p>\n
They painted a profile of TB in the province, saying most patients were young and that they needed a lot of psycho-social support as the treatment regime was very hard and onerous. Stigma was also a big issue in South Africa.<\/p>\n
They pointed to an often-overlooked issue with TB treatment \u2013 the fact that while it is freely available it was not necessarily easy to access for poor patients, particularly from remote rural areas.<\/p>\n
Mrs Nqini elaborated: \u201cPatients have to take a taxi (and pay out of their own pockets) to a regional hospital in the rural areas. From there they will have to wait for patient transport or an ambulance for the journey to a treatment hospital in the cities and towns, a journey which could take 3 days in some cases, depending on where the patient is from.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group heard the heartbreaking testimony of DWF peer educator Xolelwa Joni who not only survived XDR-TB but also had to cope with the double tragedy of losing a twin sister to the disease and her mother passing away from cancer during Xolelwa\u2019s treatment.<\/p>\n
The recall was not easy for Xolelwa who asked the group to imagine taking 27 tablets daily and to enduring six months of daily injections. Patients also had to undergo constant drawing of blood samples as the drugs used to treat XDR-TB are toxic to the liver and some can cause terrible side effects such as hearing loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t know about XDR-TB, it\u2019s everywhere and we still need help to spread the word and educate people,\u201d Xolelwa said.<\/p>\n
Xolelwa thanked and paid tribute to both the nursing and clinical staff during her treatment, adding that they were the reason she was still alive today and that she would not have coped without them.<\/p>\n
Thandekile Essien of the Lilly-SA MDR-TB paid tribute to the work conducted by the DWF in Buffalo City as a good example of public\/private partnerships, one that provided a crucial service which was much needed by an already struggling public health system.<\/p>\n
Some of the delegates were on their way to attending the 46th<\/sup> Annual World Lung Conference in Cape Town from 2-6 December 2015. See www.worldlunghealth.org<\/p>\nThe Donald Woods Foundation is Lilly\u2019s Eastern Cape partner in tackling MDR-TB and other diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and HIV both in the greater Buffalo City area and the deeply rural Mbashe district in former Transkei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2 December 2015 The benefits of health education programmes for the youth, peer education in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[113,128,104,140,130,129],"tags":[137,139,123,119,138,150,151,143],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-17u","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4302,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-hosting-mdr-tb-exposure-visit-in-bcm\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":0},"title":"DWF hosting MDR-TB exposure visit in BCM","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"29 November 2015 The Donald Woods Foundation is hosting delegates on a one-day tour of Tuberculosis programme activities in Buffalo City on 30 November 2015. The delegates representing the Lilly\/Donald Woods Foundation MDR-TB partnership in Buffalo City will visit schools in Duncan Village, the Dimbaza Community Health Centre, the newly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-mdr-tb-ambassador-to-feature-in-new-lilly-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":1},"title":"DWF MDR-TB ambassador to feature in new Lilly film","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"XDR-TB survivor Xolelwa Joni (left) chats with her elder sister Fezeka Joni (middle) and Thandekile Essien (right), Programme Officer for Lilly SA's MDR-TB Partnership in the yard of her Duncan Village home.\u00a0Photo - Barbara Manning Soon the world will hear the incredible story of former Donald Woods Foundation peer-educator and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xolelwa_lilly-film-2-1-e1463657187191.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4283,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-tackles-drug-resistant-tb-in-the-eastern-cape\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":2},"title":"DWF tackles drug-resistant TB in the Eastern Cape","date":"August 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"6 August 2015 The Donald Woods Foundation is partnering with Lilly and United Way Worldwide to tackle multi-drug resistant TB in the Eastern Cape. The partnership aims to assist the Department of Health in the effective management of DR-TB in the province, through five strategic programmes: Training and Professional Development;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4195,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/lilly-sa-witnesses-ravages-of-mdr-tb-first-hand\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":3},"title":"Lilly SA witnesses ravages of MDR-TB first-hand","date":"May 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Donald Woods Foundation recently hosted a tour of MDR-TB sites in Mdantsane in East London for the Executive Committee of Lilly South Africa to showcase the Foundation\u2019s urban TB sites of operation. Delegates visited the Mdantsane Prison, Nkqubela TB Hospital and made two home visits to families affected by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lilly-exco-visit-1-1-e1463657536201.jpg?fit=1194%2C897&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4558,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/an-inspiring-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":4},"title":"An inspiring story","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Meet Xolelwa Joni, a survivor of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) from Duncan Village in East London, South Africa \u2013 a city with a very high TB burden. Following her two-year battle with XDR-TB, Xolelwa joined the Donald Woods Foundation as peer educator in the Foundation\u2019s MDR-TB programme in East London.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"joni film thumbnail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/joni-film-thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4185,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-forging-stronger-links-with-madwaleni-hospital-on-mdr-tb\/","url_meta":{"origin":4308,"position":5},"title":"Forging stronger TB links with Madwaleni Hospital","date":"May 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, Foundation staff working in the Health in Every Hut programme met with the head of the TB unit at Madwaleni Hospital in an effort to forge stronger links and map out ways of assisting the unit with case identification and fostering treatment adherence for patients discharged from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Centre"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Madwaleni-news-e1463657295820.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}