Nothabo's Dream

Speeches Shim

Meet Nothabo, a tuberculosis (TB) survivor living in South Africa. With USAID’s support, South Africa has made significant progress in achieving high TB treatment coverage and helping people, like Nothabo. USAID's Global Accelerator to End TB builds countries' commitment and capacity to reach the global TB target of reaching 40 million people with treatment by 2022.

Video Transcript 
00:06 - When I start hearing about that I'm having TB, 00:12 I felt so broken. 00:14 I felt 00:16 so angry. 00:19 I've seen this thing from my mom and what it does. 00:22 And then they said it's an MDR, 00:25 and then it's worse than the normal TB. 00:30 South Africa is among the thirty countries that make up 87% of the world's TB burden. 00:37 USAID's new model The Global Accelerator to End TB increases support for local governments, 00:40 civil society, and communities to fight TB. 00:45 My name is Nothabo. 00:48 I was born in 1987 in Cape Town. 00:54 I was born as the only girl in a family of four boys. 01:00 I am 32 years of age. 01:04 My body felt weak first of all. 01:09 I felt very weak. 01:11 I lost appetite. 01:13 I was coughing also. 01:16 One thing I noticed when I started to feel sick, 01:20 I was losing my memory. 01:25 My family and the nurses from hospice, they helped me a lot. 01:32 At first it's very difficult. 01:34 It's very difficult, and even myself, to be honest, 01:39 I told myself I am not gonna do this. 01:43 12 months is too long. 01:45 It's 100 years for me. 01:47 Eating pills, 21 pills every day? 01:50 No, I can't. 01:51 But hospice nurses helped me. 01:54 They come for visits, they know my days. 01:58 I don't know how they do it. 01:59 They know, okay, today you are going to the doctor. 02:02 That week you are going to take your meds 02:06 so they know about me. 02:09 By empowering small clinics and hospitals to offer TB screenings & treatment, 02:13 patients like Nothabo don't have to travel far to receive care. 02:17 So I completed my treatment 02:19 on the eighth of this month, August 2019. 02:23 I was so happy. 02:24 I cried. 02:26 I cried all the way home. 02:28 With USAID's support, South Africa has made significant progress in achieving high treatment coverage. 02:36 I just wish no one gets this thing. 02:40 I just wish I could have a loudspeaker 02:42 for the whole world to tell them this thing does happen. 02:47 There is a TB. 02:48 There is MDR-TB. 02:51 But you can beat it, we can beat it. 02:54 (somber music)

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