UN lauds Cape Town TB project

By Khanyisa Tabata
05 February 2010

The City of Cape Town’s health portfolio committee, the provincial health department and the TB/HIV Care Association have been honoured with a United Nations Public Service Award.

They were commended for their fight against tuberculosis.

Chairperson for the Health Portfolio Committee Councilor James Vos says the innovative step taken by health officials was to bring the two problems into a common focus and to conceptualize a new layer of health workers to be added to clinic staff.

One of the aims of the project is to recruit new staff from among unemployed school leavers to help monitor and record TB treatment schedules.

“The one problem is that the incidence of TB had been rising consistently over the last 10 years while cure rates remained static, some of the reasons being that diagnosed patients failed to complete the lengthy treatment or response to treatment was not adequately documented.

“The second problem, though not directly a health issue, is the question of youth unemployment especially of recently matriculated learners who are unable to find a foothold in the formal economy. This is especially prevalent in poor urban communities,” said James Vos.

The project passed two rounds of selections for the UN award and the City was informed in May last year that it was selected as a finalist for the award of Improving the Delivery of Services.