Today, the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, together with the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, launched a pilot kick TB campaign at a health promoting school in Durban, Phoenix. They had just landed from an official trip to Brazil and came from the airport to the launch.
Kick TB campaign is a campaign of the Department of Health that seeks to enlist school learners as ambassadors of TB. The campaign seeks to combat TB as well as stigma associated with it, by fusing sport and social mobilisation to create a platform through which TB appropriate messages will be effectively conveyed. The campaign aims to:
* Increase awareness and knowledge of TB
* Dispel common myths and mis concepts that currently contribute to stigmatisation of TB
* Promote behaviour change required to prevent TB infections.
In KwaZulu-Natal there over 300 health promoting schools that are targeted in the rollout of this campaign. A health promoting school is one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working. Learners are informed about TB symptoms and asked to educate at least five people per day so as to spread the message of TB prevention.
The MEC for Health welcomed all the guests who were present at the launch who included the United States Consul General, Ms Jill Dederian and representatives of donor organisations (such as USAID, John Hopkins University and others). In his welcoming address he said, “We need to strengthen our efforts in preaching prevention if we are to make any meaningful dent on the TB scourge. KwaZulu-Natal is one the provinces who have a high TB case load with around 119 000 cases per annum. We are also seeing an increase in MDR & XDR-TB cases which is our biggest challenge.”
“Currently our cure rate is around 50 percent and the World Health Organisation wants all nations to reach 85 percent cure rate by 2014. It is for this reason that we have launched such a campaign enlisting “imilomo engathethi manga” (people who tell no lies) who are children.”We know we can reduce deaths if we get people on treatment on time particularly pregnant mothers who may transmit the bacteria to their children,” the MEC said.
The National TB Ambassador, Ms Gerrie Elsdon (formerly Rantseli) provided edutainment for the kids who were given soccer balls branded with TB symptoms. During the launch the minister said, “We are reaching to schools to enlist learners as our TB Ambassadors. We know that children are very good in carrying correct messages to their homes and communities. In this way we are assured that a population will grow up knowing how to prevent TB.”
“The World Cup fever assisted us to use the concept of soccer in carrying the message. As you would know that we have recently launched the HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign; today we are launching this TB campaign as we believe that the two are evil twin that fought together we can see progress speedily. Success in one means success in the other,” the minister concluded.
The messages of the campaign are:
* Encourage community (and family) members to know their status and get tested
* TB can be cured
* Beware of TB symptoms
* Wash your hands often with soap and water
* Protect others from getting infected by covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze
* Complete your treatment.
Enquiries:
Themba Mngomezulu
Cell: 072 517 5417
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
2 June 2010
