Researchers from the Global Health Research Program at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada are working in conjunction with the Southern African Miners Association (SAMA) and local colleagues from the University of Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town, the South Africa Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and the mining sector to study how best to meet the health and social needs of ex-miners.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, recognizing the burden of occupational lung disease and tuberculosis (TB) inflicted upon the people who worked in South African mines and the potential that this research has for addressing the concerns, will be providing funding for this research project.
The team will be focusing on developing new technological advances, using Computer Assisted Detection (CAD) for finding TB and silicosis on chest x-rays, and studying the impact of health equity that these innovations can contribute, as well as the real-life challenges in implementation.
The specific sites for implementation have yet to be chosen, but preliminary work is now underway in Malawi. The team also hopes to link up with the Stop TB Partnership in Malawi who have similar aims, and extend to other sites in due course. Further details will be elaborated once the technology for implementation is ready for the field research.
Further information on our research projects involving mining are available here.