Médecins Sans Frontières - Sinethemba Story

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF211261

Date taken / Date Recorded 12/10/2017 12:00 AM

Country South Africa

Commissioning section MSF-SOUTH AFRICA

Photographer / videographer / producer generic MSF

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m44s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 468.61 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist 00:00 Title
Sinethemba's Second Chance
A South African teenagers's journey
through drug-resistant tuberculosis

00:08 Title
Khayelitsha, South Africa, September 22nd, 2017 -
a 'cure party' is thrown for 18 year old Sinethemba Kuse,
who has beaten extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB)

00:17 Title
3 in 4 XDR-TB patients are not cured in South Africa

00:22 Title
Hers is a story of inmense courage
unfailing support
and a new drug called delamaid

00:29 Title
Sinethemba Kuse
18 years old

00:29 --> 00:31
I don't know where to start.

00:31 --> 00:34
It has been along and hard journey.

00:34 --> 00:39
I was first diagnosed in December 2015.

00:39 --> 00:42
When I first heard the news it was terrible.

00:42 --> 00:46
I went to the clinic with my grandmother and my cousin.

00:46 --> 00:48
and when we got there

00:48 --> 00:51
we took the sputum test

00:51 --> 00:55
and then the doctor told us to come back next week.

00:55 --> 00:59
When we got to the clinic, the results had come back

00:59 --> 01:03
and they said that I had MDR-TB.

01:03 Title
Christmas Eve, 2015 - Sinethemba is diagnosed
with multidrug-ressistant TB (MDR-TB)

01:06 Title
Dr Anja REUTER
MSF DR-TB clinician in Khayelisha

01:06 --> 01:10
We fisrst diagnosed Sinethemba with DR-TB

01:10 --> 01:12
just over two years ago.

01:12 --> 01:15
And it was quite unfortunate because

01:15 --> 01:19
the TB that she breathed in and got sick with,

01:19 --> 01:22
was a particularly dangerous type of TB.

01:22 --> 01:25
And like the normal TB, hers was a

01:25 --> 01:29
very agressive drug resistant form of TB.

01:29 --> 01:31
For which we didn't have a lot of drugs

01:31 --> 01:33
that we though would be effective.

01:34 Title
The standard treatment for DR-TB can last up to two years
and includes a painful daily injection for the first six months
which can have terrible side effects.

01:38 Title
Xoliswa HARMANS
MSF DR-TB counsellor

01:38 --> 01:41
She was just crying

01:41 --> 01:47
because she heard it was MDR-TB and it would take two years.

01:47 --> 01:51
To take 17-20 pills per day is not easy.

01:52 Title
February, 2016 - Sinethemba's diagnosis
changes from MDR-TB to XDR-TB

01:55 --> 02:01
Usually we treat DR-TB with quite a painful daily injection

02:01 --> 02:03
and it can cause renal failure

02:03 --> 02:08
and in up to 60% of people it can cause hearing loss.

02:08 --> 02:11
We tried to access a drug called delamanid.

02:11 --> 02:13
Delamanid is a very new drug,

02:13 --> 02:16
there has been some trials on it,

02:16 --> 02:18
it seems to be very effective for DR-TB.

02:18 --> 02:24
Also, seems like it is a safe option for adolescents and children,

02:24 --> 02:29
so we wanted to get delamanid for Sinethemba,

02:29 --> 02:31
and we mangaged to do that.

02:31 --> 02:34
And actually, Sinethemba is the first adolescent

02:34 --> 02:37
in Khayelitsha who had access to this treatment.

02:37 Title
Ayanda MAQAM
Nurse, Ubuntu Clinic, Khayelitsha

02:37 --> 02:41
That's when we saw a major improvement in her health,

02:41 --> 02:44
she put on some weight and was more healthy.

02:44 --> 02:47
After she started taking the new treatment,

02:47 --> 02:49
two to three weeks down the line

02:49 --> 02:54
I remember the day we went to the clinic to see Sinethemba.

02:54 --> 02:56
She was just smiling.

02:56 --> 02:59
I though: "wow, whats going on?"

02:59 --> 03:01
This is the delamanid.

03:01 Title
7,000 DR-TB patients in South Africa could benefit from delamanid each year,
but as approval of the drug by the Medicines Control Council is stil pending,
very few are able to access it.
After her health improved, Sinethemba decided to speak out.

03:12 Title
March 24th, 2017 - World TB Day
courtesy of health-e news

03:12 --> 03:17
I would like to say that the government
should give a lot of people this treatment

03:17 --> 03:23
It should not be only in Khayelitsha, but all
over the provinces, not only in Western Cape.

03:23 --> 03:28
Because there is a lot of people who are
not given the chance to take this tablet.

03:29 --> 03:32
And they suffer, a lot of people die,

03:32 --> 03:35
so I suggest that the government should pay this tablet.

03:35 --> 03:39
So, that everyone should get a second chance to it.

03:39 --> 03:45
Two years now and she is about to complete her treatment.

03:45 --> 03:47
Today she is going to be taking her last dose.

03:47 --> 03:54
And we are excited because we have been
with her from the start to her last dose.

03:56 --> 04:01
It is exciting times now to work now in TB
with all these new drugs

04:01 --> 04:03
that are coming out.

04:03 --> 04:08
We start to see now that all the patients are being cured.

04:10 Title
The last dose

04:30 Title
Sinethemba Kuse's story is extraordinary,
but it doesn't have to be

Better, less toxic treatments using new drugs like delamaid
are urgently needed to fight DR-TB epidemic
in high burden countries like South Africa, and elsewhere.

Special instructions Font used DIN Pro

For adaptations, please use the Essential Graphics library shared on MSF adobe cloud or MSFSTO14578

Sinethemba Story | English

Sinethemba Story | English