About a million children develop tuberculosis (TB) annually around the world and when they do, they are often forced to try to take tiny handfuls of adult-sized tablets for months. Now, local researchers are looking at ways to make TB treatment for kids shorter and easier.

The Department of Health’s multi-million rand investment in an automated, rapid TB test is being short-changed by slow health systems, said researchers this week.

Musa Ernest Nkoko is a 52-year old ex-miner with multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. He lives in KaShoba in the Lubombo region of Swaziland with his wife and five children aged between 9 and 27 years.

Johannesburg — Gold miners in Southern Africa are probably the group worst affected by tuberculosis (TB) in the world. This is according to Dr David Mametja of South Africa's National TB Programme.