Health Care in the Workplace

Employees of Western Province Caterers celebrate completing a VCT drive with TB/HIV Care

If “TB is everywhere” as the WHO slogan suggests, then receiving treatment for TB does not necessarily need to be confined to a hospital or clinic. The TB/HIV Care Association is revolutionizing both workplaces and health care by carefully combining the two.

A common barrier to accessing treatment can be work commitments. Many people find it difficult to report regularly to a clinic when they have a daily job that they cannot afford to lose. So it makes sense to bring TB services and treatments right to the workplace.

The TB/HIV Care Association is doing so in two ways – by identifying individual treatment supporters and through outreach campaigns.

When a patient is diagnosed with TB, they are given the option of receiving treatment support at their workplace. They can then identify someone at work that they trust, and TB/HIV Care will approach the person to ask them to help support the patient in their treatment programme. If the person is willing, TB/HIV Care will train them in the process. This takes some strain off both the patient and the public health system.

TB/HIV Care also runs awareness workshops and voluntary testing and counselling drives for companies. One such programme run recently in conjunction with Western Province Caterers was highly successful. 79% of those who attended the workshop indicated that they would like to be tested. Since then, 169 employees have been tested. According to Charlotte Steyn of Western Province Caterers, many of their staff were grateful for the opportunity to test as they didn’t know where to go to test, or didn’t want to stand in long lines to do so.

A similar initiative was held at the KFC Franchise after they invited TB/HIV Care to conduct an employee wellness programme. The programme consisted of awareness sessions at 26 outlets covering HIV, TB and STI. Employees were invited to be screened for TB and tested for HIV, and a very encouraging 55% of employees were tested.

With increasing emphasis being placed on the need for innovative, community driven treatment support, TB/HIV Care’s workplace programme may be at the forefront of new treatment models.

Sources
TB/HIV Care Association tel: 021 425 0050 www.tbhivcare.org
“Our Thyme’s” Western Province Caterers’ Newsletter. February, March 2009. P.2.