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Everybody Breathes: Treating TB in Eshowe, South Africa

South Africa

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In South Africa, we respond to disease epidemics, non-communicable diseases, and assist migrants with access to healthcare.

In October 2023, in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Health, we launched a project to improve the identification and management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Amathole District, which is MSF's first NCD project in South Africa.  We aim to apply lessons from two decades of working on HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa to enhance NCD care in rural settings.

We also work with undocumented people and migrants in Tshwane, where we run a project that provides access to vaccines for these underserved communities.

Having achieved the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target in 2018 in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, we redirected our approach to tackle the TB epidemic and reduce the number of cases in the area.

After 22 years of activities and campaigning, we closed our HIV and TB project in Khayelitsha, Western Cape in 2020.

Our activities in 2022 in South Africa

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022.

MSF in South Africa in 2022 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched a major response when South Africa was hit by floods in 2022. We also maintained our HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programmes and migrant health project.
South Africa IAR map 2022

Flash flooding in parts of KwaZulu-Natal province in April caused hundreds of deaths, displaced over 40,000 people and severely damaged infrastructure, including water and sanitation services. MSF launched a substantial emergency response, comprising medical teams and water, sanitation and hygiene experts. We supported mobile clinics in affected communities with medical staff, and provided water storage and sanitation in shelters for displaced people. In addition, our geohydrologists implemented innovative techniques for improving water yield and quality from strategically drilled boreholes. 

In the city of Tshwane, where we run a migrant health project, our teams supported outreach healthcare services for marginalised people, such as those without documentation and drug users, including referrals to health facilities.  

In September 2022, after 22 years, our teams working on HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) in Khayelitsha handed all remaining activities over to authorities. We launched the project in a context of HIV/AIDS denialism at the highest levels of government, starting by working to improve methods to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease, and were soon allowed to expand our involvement to HIV treatment for people of all ages, as well as operational research. One of the project’s standout achievements was the integration of HIV and TB services in clinics. It also contributed to the improvement of DR-TB treatment and care, by demonstrating that it is possible to substitute toxic injectable antibiotics with newer and more effective oral drugs. 

Our project in Eshowe offered preventive treatment for TB – a medicine that reduces the risk that TB infection will progress to TB disease – through community health posts that were previously set up by MSF, adding to the existing TB, HIV and non-communicable diseases services that are already available at these conveniently located sites.

 

in 2022
 
rural area in South Africa
South Africa

Treating diabetes and hypertension closer to home in rural South Africa

Interview 25 Oct 2023
 
Ethekwini Flooding: Flood damage
South Africa

Thousands homeless and at risk of disease after devastating floods

Project Update 22 Apr 2022
 
Let's kick COVID out. Vaccinate!
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Vaccinating people with comorbidities in South Africa

Press Release 17 Feb 2022
 
South Africa unrest: Durban response
South Africa

Supporting vulnerable communities in the aftermath of violence

Project Update 23 Jul 2021
 
Addressing the ocean of gaps in the treatment of tuberculosis in children and adolescents
Tuberculosis

Sustainable solutions for children and adolescents at risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis

Project Update 30 Mar 2021
 
Eshowe Rural COVID-19 Response
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Southern Africa needs the right COVID-19 vaccines, at the right price – right now

Press Release 18 Feb 2021
 
Doctor iilaya talking to patient pramod in the HFNC ward
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

MSF supports India and South Africa ask to waive COVID-19 patent rights

Press Release 7 Oct 2020
 
Eshowe Rural COVID-19 Response
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 and rural South Africa

org.za 21 Sep 2020
 
Khayelitsha Field Hospital Activity
South Africa

Western Cape begins to breathe after COVID-19 peak

Project Update 6 Aug 2020

Contact us

Bending the Curves - Eshowe HIV
MSF South Africa

7th Floor, Zurich House
70 Fox Street, Marshalltown
Johannesburg
South Africa