By Nangamso Mabindla
17 May 2007

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) was highlighted by Buffalo City's health services and the Department of Correctional Services at a packed East London City Hall on Wednesday, 16 May, when the two divisions marked World TB Health Day.

One of the aims of the day was to raise awareness of the dangers of TB. The correctional services regional commissioner, Nontsikelo Jongilanga, said that it was important that communities were aware of TB.

"TB needs to be highlighted on a daily basis; communities need to be constantly reminded that TB is a daily challenge. However, they also need to know that TB is curable."

It was also important that people affected by the illness were taught ways to deal with it. The partnership between correctional services and the City's health services to fight TB in jails was also discussed.

"We have 277 cases of TB in the province's 43 centres; and 10 of these are multi-drug resistant TB. We also have 1 094 cases of HIV. We want to put programmes in place to fight these two illnesses in our centres."

Another challenge at jails was substance abuse. Jongilanga said her department wanted to use World TB Health Day to teach people not to use drugs while they were being treated for TB.

"Drugs are a no go area for anyone, but especially for people with TB. We have brought a young inmate who will teach people about the dangers of substance abuse," she said.

Nomvuyo Ndevu, from the City's health services, said that the municipality treated inmates. "Some of these people commit crimes while still receiving treatment from our clinics. Correctional services contacts us to ensure that these people are registered with us, and then allows us to treat them."

She said World TB Health Day was important to raise awareness about the dangers of TB in communities. She also urged people to take their treatment seriously and finish the full six months of medication.