23 June 2010 - Geneva - In a clip released today - the third in a series of videos shot in South Africa during his first country visit as a Goodwill Ambassador against Tuberculosis - British R&B star Craig David talks with Dr Sizulu Moyo, a tuberculosis researcher at the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative University.
Against the backdrop of a busy research laboratory, Craig learns that lots of progress has been made and momentum gained in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis thanks to collaboration among partners as well as increased awareness and commitment from poor and rich countries alike, spurred by the link between tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS: tuberculosis is the leading infectious killer of people living with HIV.
Two key challenges mentioned by Dr Moyo are the need for sufficient funding to develop an effective vaccine and the need for tuberculosis patients to complete their course of treatment (which lasts 6 months or more) to keep the medicines effective: incomplete treatment will lead to the tuberculosis bacteria becoming drug-resistant. While people are aware that they should finish treatment, she explains, "it's a complicated scenario; there are many things that come into play... We need understand where they are coming from. They are people with lives, with families."
Despite her laboratory surroundings Dr Moyo remains very aware of the real-life implications of her research: "It's not only about the documents that you read, any nice brochures, it's not about the presentations that you make... TB affects real people, real families and real communities."