South African TB Vaccine Initiative
“Ek vat hierdie kind as my eie. Ek is altyd spyt as ek in ‘n ander saal moet gaan werk, want ek raak so geheg aan die kinders. Ek sê altyd vir hulle, ek is hulle ma, want baie se ma’s kom nie vir hulle kuier nie.”
- Evelyn Gelderblom, cleaner at the pediatric ward with Veronica Visagie, 9 years old.
Veronica started schooling at the Brewelskloof School when she was 8. She Speaks
Xhosa and Afrikaans well and serves as interpreter for the Xhosa speaking children
“Under apartheid, we black nurses wore a tag of being black, in fact “Bantu nurses” first and had to prove ourselves. We were the ones who had to wear red aprons like domestics. I became a nurse because I wanted to be a light in my community.”
- Sylvia Mlangeni: Co-ordinator Neonatal Cohort Study visiting Boneka Nikana and her child Siphelele who is enrolled in the SATVI Neo natal study in Mandela Square together with Siyanda Mtengwana, a Community Research Worker.
21 year old mother Annelise Carelse has been very worried about her child Shadeequa who is only 9 months old. Her child became very ill when she was at work on a farm in Robertson. Her child’s chest had closed and she was rushed to causalities at Eben Donges Hospital. From there she was sent to Tygerberg Hospital with double pneumonia. At present the child is recovering well thanks to the monitoring of the SATVI team.
“SATVI always takes responsibility to follow-up, track and check on the patients”
- Siziwe Mawu: Co-ordinator SATVI Ward
“Ek is hier vir my eie gesondheid. Ek hou van breiwerk and het al twee scarves en twee kappies vir my son gebrei. Ek mis my seun. Ek het hom net een keer gesien toe die boer hom verby die hospital vir n besoek, gebring het. Ons doen ons hare op n Vrydag net soos by die huis.”
- Anna Isaacs (putting in curlers) is from the Warm Bokkeveld in Ceres. Anna has been in Brewelsklood hospital for three months. She completed Standard 5 and has been a farm worker all her life. She has a 23 year old son who has Diabetes and TB and is currently on treatment. She lost her husband to Diabetes.
“I am happy here, we have a full day and there are lots of talks on substance abuse and about families.”
- Elizabeth Snyers 39, from Ceres (on the right). She has four children including her daughter, Britany, who is in the pediatric ward at Brewelskloof. As a MDR (Multi Drug Resistant) TB patient whose sputum is not yet negative she cannot visit her daughter in the same hospital. Her husband is in the hospital too. Her extended family is looking after her other children. Her parents are seasonal farm workers on fruit farms and she works in vegetable packing factory when not in hospital. Anna Isaacs, a friend and fellow patient, is seated next to her.
“We at SATVI are trying to find a way to protect us all from TB. Our biggest challenge is to find markers for easier and earlier detection of TB”
- Nazma Mansoor (title) staining blood cells
“We were the first group that started the TB vaccine in South Africa since the original BCG vaccine. We have also grown in terms of our academic research and we have learnt from other African countries.”
Sebastiaan Gelderbloem overseeing the storage of blood samples at minus 270 degrees.
"Berenice De Wee is a 17 year old mother of a baby Glenville. Her own mother died during 2003 and she is living with her boyfriend’s parents. The parents are working on the farm. The father too is a teenager. I spoke to her about the possibility of applying for a CSG, however, she did not seem very interested. The child does not look underweight or neglected. As we were leaving I caught a glimpse of the boyfriend who had not emerged until we were on our way."
- Rachel Titus part of the team visiting the farm named “ Aan De Doorns.
“Ek, Eunice en Nantes (Sampson) maak n' goeie span.' Ons lag saam en ons huil saam. Eunice is goud werd. When she visits people she is the doctor, social worker, everything. Ek glo ons het by SATVI baaie gegrooi. Research is my lewe.
- Lily Denation Community Research Worker manager together with Eunice Sinandile
“Die mammies wat tienerjariges is nie altyd gewillig om te praat nie. Ons doen soms speurwerk en spoor n’ gesinslid op om toesteming te kry. Net soos ons dink dat ons nou die persoon opgespoor het , kry die persoon 'n werk iewers anders en trek dan.”
- Rachel Titus accompanied the team to a farm named “ Aan De Doorns.
“Die haaglike omstandighede waaronder die mense lewe maak my soms n’ bietjie emosioneel Ons besoek die kinders in die studiemaandliks, maar drie maandliks moet die toetse herhaal word. Ons doen om en by 50 -70 besoeke per week.”
- Sylvia Mlangeni: Co-ordinator Neonatal Cohort Study visiting Boneka Nikana and her child Siphelele who is enrolled in the SATVI Neo natal study in Mandela Square together with Siyanda Mtengwana, a Community Research Worker.
“The truth about being born in Worcester is that you are born into a soup of TB”
- Anthony Hawkridge - Director of Clinical Trials SATVI.
“The amount of knowledge the people have from the cleaners upwards, they know the routine and they know what is being done and the aims that SATVI has.”
- Thomas Scriba: Post Doctoral Fellow about the integrated and developmental approach of SATVI
“Quite simply put, we are trying to ascertain why it is that babies who have all been vaccinated at birth, some who despite vaccination still develop TB. We are part of the WAR AGAINST TB”
- Ben Kagina: PhD student
“Ek was ‘n TB pasient vir ses maande, in die laaste maand vind hulle dat die pille nie werk nie. Ek het eers gewone TB gehad toe ek ‘n buite pasient was, ek is nou MDR (Multi Drug Resistant). Hulle sit my op ander pille en admit my in die hospitaal. Toe ek hier kom is my bors seer, keel gepyn ek het ‘n droë hoes gehad en my long het seer gevoel. Daar is baaie TB lyers op die plaas - my broer, my vriend, my sister en nog paar vroue. Die mense gebruik nie hulle pille. Die boer weet ek is hier. Ek werk buite op die plaas in die wingerd. Ek kry nie betaling nie as ek hier in die hospitaal is.”
- Ragel Jansen, 34, she has 5 children and has been working over 13 years on a wine farm in De Doorns. Sister DL Jacobs is taking her blood pressure.
Medication for MDR (Multi Drug Resistant) TB which ranges, depending on the resistance profile of the patient, from minimum of R5 000 to maximum of R28 000 per 24 month treatment period.
Photographs for the South African TB Vaccine Initiative and BrewelsKloof Hospital
Read the artcticle Brewelskloof in pictures by Elana van der Watt
all images copyright of Kali van der Merwe