Innocent Mayoyo launched national TB Awareness Month at Nigel Correctional services

Former Pirates football star Innocent Mayoyo’s visit to Nigel Correctional Services on March 4 marked the national Tuberculosis Awareness (TB) Month and encouraged offenders to be aware of the dangers of the disease.
Program coordinator Morgan Mkwanazi said that they invited Mayoyo to help educate inmates on TB through participating in the TB awareness games held at the prison.
After a swift soccer match in the prison’s courtyard, Mayoyo addressed inmates and spoke about the curable but deadly disease.
South Africa is ranked second highest in the world for carrying the burden of TB which is caused by mycobacterium bacilli. It can affect any part of the body, but the lungs are the most vulnerable. The bacteria coughed up by a TB victim spread easily and are very infectious.
“Overcrowded and poorly ventilated spaces make prisons an ideal place for TB, an airborne disease, to be transmitted and HIV prevalence in our prison is high. We have committed ourselves to involve icons such as Mayoyo to assist in the roll-out of our TB programme which will consist of awareness sessions after TB Awareness Month concludes”, she said.
Mayoyo said he agreed to form part of this programme since the idea is based around the active engagement which promotes learning.
“There will be sessions that form part of the programme and are therefore ‘activations’ which use impromptu dancing, music, an open dialogue and sport to convey messages about how to prevent or manage TB”, he said.
“We felt that having an icon like Mayoyo involved would encourage inmates to participate. He spent time playing soccer with them which created a more open approach to discuss the relevant issues”, Morgan said.
The programme also gave inmates a chance to perform during the ‘open mike’ sessions to which they showed off a range of talents including rapping, singing, dancing and beat-boxing
Through the TB programme we aim to reach and educate as many inmates as possible.
“The prison setting is challenging, but we will persevere despite rain, blown speakers, a fight between inmates and power failure”, Morgan concluded.