TB HIV Care, a non-profit organisation which works to prevent, treat and find tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in South Africa, is celebrating 90 years since the founding of the organisation this year. TB HIV Care was established in 1929 and has since then made invaluable contributions to the lives of all in South Africa, operating in all nine provinces. The organisation goes the extra mile in caring for patients and as such, donors are always welcome.

“One of our most important programmes is to provide an educare to children less than six years old in Brooklyn Chest Hospital,” said CEO of TB HIV Care, Harry Hausler.

“Without any kind of interaction with a teacher, those children are very isolated. They are in their class and it literally looks like they’re in a jail cell because they’re alone… they’re crying and they don’t get much attention because the nurses don’t have adequate time to interact with them. So we employ educare teachers to provide early childhood development and social interaction with the children, and they love it.”

“We also provide transport to parents to be able to come in and see their children on the weekends…it’s a really important programme and I really encourage anyone who wants to donate or learn more to visit the website.”

Hausler added that the TB and HIV statistics in South Africa are staggering, indicating that organisations such TB HIV Care require investment.

“We are an organisation that works across all nine provinces and our vision is to empower communities to be healthy and free of TB and HIV. If you look at the whole of South Africa, there are 7.1 million people living with HIV – that’s the largest number of people with HIV in any country in the world. We also have the biggest antiretroviral treatment programme…”

According to Hausler, South Africa has a concerning rate of TB with a high incidence of drug-resistant TB.

TB is a curable, but potentially serious, infectious disease. Those with symptoms are encouraged to get tested.

Click here for more information on TB and HIV: LEARN

Click here to donate to TB HIV Care: DONATE

VOC