(A column highlighting scientific, technological, engineering and design innovation in Africa)
The Tutu Tester is a mobile clinic that offers screenings and testing for tuberculosis, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that can cause the deadly AIDS disease, and other chronic diseases. Launched in 2008 by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, the brightly colored van is staffed by doctors, nurses and other individuals who have been involved in AIDS research for more than ten years.
The Tutu Tester was created by Linda-Gail Bekker, Ph.D., and her husband, Robin Wood, deputy director and director, respectively, of the Desmond Tutu HIV Center, a non-profit organization housed at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Dr. Bekker also is associate professor of medicine at the university and operating officer at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation.
The Tutu Tester employs adequate testing equipment and trained staff to test patients with TB and HIV in areas in South Africa without adequate health facilities. Because of the stigma associated with HIV and TB, Bekker and her team incorporate those screenings into the battery of tests that comprise a general check-up — other tests include pregnancy, diabetes and hypertension — to encourage patients to get tested. As part of its treatment strategies and prevention measures for TB and HIV, the team relies on community support for drug adherence and the administering of medication.
Although local Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services provides vital information for disease prevention, data accumulated by the Desmond Tutu Foundation showed that most communities affected by HIV did not have access to those services. With so many left uninformed, the mortality rate among the infected increased.
Bekker, who describes herself as a “frustrated social worker,” subsequently came up with the idea for mobile treatment that would travel to communities in secluded and medically under-served areas in and around Cape Town. “We are truly seeing a prevention revolution,” she told a media source in Cape Town.
An estimated 5.7 million people in South Africa are said to be infected with HIV and TB, making that country the center of the global HIV and TB epidemic. Over the last 20 years South Africa’s TB rate has increased significantly making it the third highest in the world.
In 2009, Dr. Bekker was awarded a £60,000 (approx.. US$96,200 )Royal Society Prize in London for tracking the changes of TB and HIV research.
