Research and Engagement Site

The Project was undertaken in Delft, a township within the Tygerberg District of Cape Town, Western Province. Greater Delft has a population of  ~100,000 serviced by two public health facilities; Delft Community Health Centre (DCHC), run by the Provincial Health Department, and Delft South Clinic (DSC), run by the City of Cape Town Department of Health (DoH). The reported total number of newly registered TB cases in Delft (DCHC plus DSC) was 384 for the first quarter of 2011 alone.  There were 1500 newly registered TB cases in Delft in the period 2010-2011. At the time of project implementation, over half of the MDR-TB cases identified in the Cape Town metro region were registered at the two Delft clinics.

The approach developed the capacity of youth and health care workers from Delft to aid the prevention of TB and HIV using the creative arts. Through a series of Research and Learning workshops, an educational play ‘Bad News? Good News!’ was created. The script was based entirely on the personal stories and suggestions of the workshop participants, who were trained in basic acting skills and went on to become the actors in the play. ‘Bad News? Good News!’ aims to increase awareness about TB and HIV, reduce stigma, and provide key public health messages in  a context that at-risk South African communities in can relate to.

By reaching its goals and objectives, the Delft Youth Theatre for Health project has assisted the South African National TB Control Program in its efforts to increase the demand for TB and TB/HIV services, enhance TB case detection, improve treatment adherence, advance the prevention and treatment of MDR-TB and promote social mobilization against TB and HIV.

Print Friendly