Mozambique

Tuberculosis is a major problem in the mining industry in Southern Africa. Mine workers are at a higher risk of catching TB due to the exposure to silica dust, poor living conditions, and high HIV prevalence in mining communities. A lot of mine workers in South Africa originate from Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho. There is a constant moving of mine workers between South-Africa and its neighbour countries. To reduce the risk of TB with migrating mine workers, the Occupational Health Centre has opened in the border city Ressano Garcia in Mozambique in the summer of 2019.

The Delft Approach

Mozago Construction and Trionica Mozambique selected Delft as distributor of the radiology solutions in the centre. Delft provided an EasyDR X-ray machine with our Computer Aided Detection for Tuberculosis software (CAD4TB). The X-ray screening on TB and silicosis, audio and other tests will be free of charge for all the migrating mine workers.

Next to that, several solar panels were installed on the roof of the centre. This way, the centre can be charged with the power of the sun.

Making an Impact

In May 2019, the local staff received technical training from our colleagues of Universal Delft. The project was officially opened in August 2019 by the Minister of Health. As Delft, we want to contribute to more insight into the causes and challenges of the TB epidemic of the mining industry. We are expecting that this project will have a great impact on the current TB problem among the mining community.