The prevalence of TB in the Cape Winelands region is increasing.
This was according to Imtiaz Sooliman, the founder of Gift of the Givers, at a recent commemoration of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day in Cloetesville.
“People are poor. They come to get tested, but they don’t take their medication. They don’t follow up,” said Sooliman. “[But] if they don’t have food, they can’t even take their medication. So we decided to give them food [for the] whole year.”
A total of 150 families in Cloetesville received food parcels during a recent Tuberculosis (TB) outreach programme by Gift of the Givers, said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the organisation. PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
Cloetesville outreach
The special outreach programme took place at the Eikestad Hall in Cloetesville, which is next to the Aan-het-Pad Clinic where the TB patients receive treatment.
SMF News attended the gathering on 24 March, which was the first event in Gift of the Givers’ plan to support the clinic with food parcels for an entire year, said Sooliman.
Charlene Fortuin, operational manager at Aan-het-Pad Clinic, confirmed Gift of the Givers’ intention to provide the 150 TB patients at the clinic with a food parcel every month for the rest of the year.
The clinic’s nurses, who provide treatment and regular house visits, also need support, according to Sooliman.
“I think Cloetesville particularly is quite important because almost every second or third household has a TB patient,” said Khilona Radia, chief executive officer (CEO) of Antrum Biotech, and director at Free of TB, a non-profit organisation (NPO).
Both organisations collaborate with Gift of the Givers, said Sooliman.
Scans of an individual with Tuberculosis (TB) were presented at a Gift of the Givers TB outreach programme in Cloetesville, to demonstrate how the infectious disease manifests in the lungs. SMF News was in attendance. “The health department has come out with a campaign: End TB,” said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers. “This year, they want to test 5 million new people, which is a lot of testing, with the hope they will find 250 000 new cases.” PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
“The incidents of TB here [are] incredibly high,” said Radia, referring to Cloetesville. “Support that’s required is incredibly great.”
Alyce Kapisa, a second-year master’s student in Immunology at Stellenbosch University (SU), who was also in attendance, commended the Gift of the Givers for their efforts in providing the basic necessity of food.
“Something stable like food parcels [and] food ingredients once a month for a whole household in a place where there is at least one patient is so important,” said Kapisa. “It is not only the patient that suffers. It’s the family.”
“We often get involved in community outreaches, especially when it comes to World Tuberculosis (TB) Day and anything in that line,” said Raadhiyah Mathee, a PhD student in Human Genetics at Stellenbosch University (SU). “So it’s a way for people to know what we do behind the scenes.” From left to right: Alyce Kapisa, an MSc Molecular Biology student, Dr Robinah Nakawunde, PhD in Molecular Biology, Raadhiyah Mathee, and Zintle Ntetha, a community health worker. All four women are part of SU’s Societal Impact Task Team. PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
United States (US) funding
Meanwhile, Sooliman told SMF News that the United States of America’s withdrawal of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) funding will have an impact on TB, but that the situation should be seen as an opportunity.
“In a way, I’m saying: ‘You know what… we don’t need their money’,” said Sooliman. “And as Africans, we should not be stretching our hand out […] We have resources, we have skills, we have people, we have companies. We can do this ourselves.”