Everybody Breathes: Fighting TB in Eshowe

Everybody Breathes is a short docuseries documenting how the lessons learnt from the initial phases of the ‘Bending The Curves’ initiative in South Africa are now being used by our teams in Eshowe to tackle Tuberculosis (TB).

We document interventions the project is putting in place in collaboration with our local partners to prevent the spread of TB, provide a link for patients to get tested, locate missing cases and ensuring patients remain on treatment with structures that fit into their lives.

Episode 1: Improving cascade of care

Tuberculosis is a curable disease and commonly affects the lungs of patients. Despite being curable TB remains the number one killer of people living with HIV. And one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. In 2018 alone, 1.5 million people died from TB.  

The “Everybody Breathes” docuseries reflects on the work that our teams are doing in Eshowe and rural Mbongolwane to ensure that our patients with TB have access to their medication. 

Part 1 of this series expands on the model of TB care that we are implementing: Improving cascade of care. 
 

Episode 2: Fighting TB Stigma through schools

Worldwide, patients face a multitude of challenges when it comes to treating tuberculosis (TB). They can also face discrimination and stigma from families, friends and in some cases the health systems meant to help them. 

When diseases are stigmatised, the fear of social and economic consequences following diagnosis can make individuals reluctant to seek medical care and complete treatment.

Our teams in Eshowe and Mbongolwane in KwaZulu-Natal, educate learners on TB to help fight stigma in their communities because they believe; if they educate a learner, they would have educated a community. 
 

Episode 3: Using Luyanda Sites to bring TB Treatment closer to home

Over the course of this short docuseries, we have looked at some of the challenges facing patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Eshowe and Mbongolwane in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

In order to better serve patients, our teams and local partners developed Luyanda sites, which are community-based sites to assist patients to receive healthcare closer to where they live.

At these sites, we conduct TB specimen collection and take samples to local hospitals for testing. This ensures that patients can get tested and start treatment as soon as possible.