Community health workers from the Cape Town Systematic Healthcare Action Research Project (C-SHARP) in Lwandle gathered at Ekukhanyiselweni Christian School in the area to be educated about antibiotics. C-SHARP is an urban health tracking system that studies population changes and community health needs in Cape Town.
Project aims to test whether antibiotics still work
The project manager and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital, Marc Mendelson, described the gathering as part of conducting research into antibiotic resistance. He said they want to find out whether antibiotics are still working.
“We are here today with the community health workers because we want to improve the way we communicate about the problem of antibiotics – the fact that they are not working anymore. The campaign that we launch today communicates in indigenous languages so that clients can understand how to use antibiotics thoroughly,” he stated.
Mendelson said people are misusing antibiotics heavily and that the bacteria they are trying to treat are becoming resistant. He stressed that they want the community to understand how to use them.
The community is where the power lies”
“The community is where the power lies, not in government. That is why it is so important to be here today. Our challenge is to reach the community and that is why the research we do is community focused. We work with C-SHARP in Lwandle and Ehoza in Khayelitsha. With C-SHARP, they go door to door, administering questionnaires about how antibiotics are used,” explained Mendelson, adding that they want to simplify the message about antibiotics.
He emphasised that antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections like pneumonia, not viral infections like flu, colds and Covid-19.
Health workers hail the initiative
One of the community health workers, Thabisa Nongalo, described the event as informative. She said it empowers and enlightens them about the medication. She praised the professor for simplifying the whole concept of antibiotics to make it easy to understand.
