Gift of the Givers commemorated World TB Day in Cloetesville on Monday 24 March.
According to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, the team of the Aan Het Pad Clinic have done a sterling job to help and treat local TB patients.
He says the Aan Het Pad Clinic could be used as a prototype to monitor progress given the correct intervention.
“Sister Charlene Fortuin and her team of dedicated nurses consistently treat and follow up patients with house visits throughout the year.”
Sooliman says hungry patients don’t take their TB medication and addressing the food insecurity of many patients is of the utmost importance.
To help locals, Gift of the Givers handed over 150 food parcels to residents and will support the clinic nutritionally for an entire year as a means to help various groups to substantially reduce TB in the region.
The nutrition programme will help research institutions looking at what impact proper nutrition will have on the treatment of those recovering from TB.
Sooliman adds the withdrawal of HIV funding from the USA, which impacts TB programmes, should not be an occasion of despair but rather an opportunity for South Africans to collectively find African solutions in dignity without handouts. “With faith, commitment, dedication and sincerity nothing is impossible.”
