TB/HIV Care team forges partnerships at Durban TB Conference

7 June 2010

Jeanine Uwimana displays her certificate
received for the Discovery Health Clinical Excellence Award

The 2nd TB Conference held in Durban was a highly successful event that attracted 1800 delegates from 20 countries; the attention of the National Minister of Health; and a large delegation from TB/HIV Care who made an impact at all levels of the proceedings.

At the very top of the conference organising hierarchy, TB/HIV Care was represented by the Director, Prof Harry Hausler, who chaired the conference – a massive task considering the size and significance of the event.

Several TB/HIV Care staff members were also chosen to deliver presentations at the conference, having had their abstracts accepted during the rigorous selection process. Marjorie Ntobongwana, TB/HIV Care Community-Based Services Manager, and Jenny Mcloughlin, TB/HIV Care Site Manager for Sisonke District in KZN, both spoke about one of the major themes of the conference – the integration of TB and HIV health services. Ms Ntobongwana presented her experiences on integrating TB and HIV services in the Western Cape at a roundtable discussion, while Mrs Mcloughlin delivered a paper outlining the impact that TB/HIV Care’s nurse mentorship programme in the Sisonke District has had on the integration of TB and HIV services there. Because of the importance of the issue of TB and HIV integration, it was the focus of one of the conference’s final six resolutions, which recognised the need for the development of proper guidelines on the integration of these services.

Another of the conference’s resolutions – that of recognising the need to deliver patient-centred, comprehensive care, was touched on by Phebe Gribble, TB/HIV Care HCT Manager, during her presentation on the work that TB/HIV Care has been doing in the town of Franklin near Kokstad in KZN. Developing from a barebones HIV counselling and testing unit, the Franklin site has evolved in response to the community’s need for more comprehensive care, and is now a flourishing Health Post offering a variety of health services.

Jeanine Uwimana, a University of the Western Cape Phd student conducting her fieldwork in collaboration with TB/HIV Care in the Sisonke district, also presented a paper that addressed the experiences of patients – exploring patients’ perceptions of the integrated health care services they have received. Although Ms Uwimana presented two other papers at the conference, this paper in particular proved to be successful as it was selected by the “Patient and Civil Society Advocacy and Mobilisation” track Chair, Ntombekhaya Matsha-Carpentier, as the best oral presentation in the track and won the Discovery Health Clinical Excellence Award.

Another area in which TB/HIV Care displayed excellence was at its booth in the exhibition area of the conference. The TB/HIV Care stall was one of the most visited booths at the conference and attracted a constant stream of visitors; around 1300 people are believed to have visited the stall over the four days of the conference. The booth provided an opportunity for people to learn more about TB/HIV Care and its activities, and for TB/HIV Care to dispense informational material such as ‘signs and symptoms of TB’ posters, which were very popular with those delegates working in clinical or community settings.

Taking all the various ways in which TB/HIV Care Association participated in this conference into consideration, there is every reason to salute the quality and relevance of the organisation’s work, and the professionalism with which it was presented at the 2nd TB Conference in Durban.

Sources:
TB/HIV Care Association, tel: 021 425 0050, email: alison@tbhivcare.org