Content of page 'About TB FREE'
Our goal: To increase tuberculosis awareness and compliance with the tuberculosis treatment regime by establishing TB FREE centres and training DOT (Directly Observed Therapy) supporters throughout South Africa.
“TB FREE” is both the vision and the name of a joint initiative and project being undertaken by the Nelson Mandela Aventis Project for Combating TB to improve the health situation of people with tuberculosis in South Africa.
The objective of TB FREE is to increase TB case detection rates and patient cure rates especially in those areas of the country most affected by this highly contagious yet curable disease. TB FREE supports and is aligned with the South Africa National Tuberculosis Control programme and the WHO targets of a 70% case detection rate, an 85% cure rate and a treatment interruption rate of less than 5%.
TB FREE action plan:
- Increase TB awareness through advocacy and social mobilization
- Build training capacity to train DOT supporters
- Establish fixed TB FREE centres and identify community centres in all nine provinces of South Africa
- Provide mode of transport attached to each centre to improve access to communities
- Implement systems and infrastructure for management and monitoring of the project
