Meet Winnie Frazenburg, a DOT supporter who prides herself in helping people with Tuberculosis get better.

‘€œI’€™m in a position to re-stabilise people – make them the people they are supposed to be – not a sick person, but a well person. What I like most about my job is that I feel good to be among people and I feel good to be the person who can be there for her people’€.

Gladys Mabuya is another proud DOT supporter.

‘€œWhen I sleep at night I feel good knowing I have helped someone out there. It is better than not doing anything’€.

Winnie Frazenburg and Gladys Mabuya both have one thing in common’€¦ their love for people and being able to help someone in need. This gives them a sense of fulfilment. Being a DOT supporter does not pay much in material terms. The two work with health non-governmental organisations which are linked to government clinics and they receive a stipend of just R1 000 a month as a token of appreciation for their services.

Gladys Mabuya is linked to Senaoane clinic in Soweto. She tells us what inspired her to become a TB DOT supporter.

‘€œMy sister was sick and she is the one who raised me. I took care of her while she was sick six years ago. When I finished school I wanted to be a nurse, but could not study for it. I realised it was better for me to become a care-giver. My sister was HIV-positive and had cervical cancer. She has since passed away. I always told myself that there are other people who are sick who need people to look after them… give them care. Her ill health really taught me something’€, she says.

Gladys says DOT supporters fulfil the role that families should play as some families are not as sympathetic towards sick family members.

‘€œYes, it is a tough job because sometimes you come across a family which does not co-operate and support you. When you ask for help they’€™ll say it’€™s my job and I should do it. Sometimes, you are working with a patient who is big boned and you need help. The family just ignores you and you end up doing it on your own’€, says Gladys.  

Being a TB DOT supporter involves making home visits to patients diagnosed with Tuberculosis to make sure that they take their six-month medication regularly.

Patients go to local clinics to collect their medication and take them from home under the supervision and help of DOT supporters.

Winnie Frazenburg, who is linked to the Noordgesicht clinic, just 12 kilometres away from Senaoane where Gladys works from, says DOT supporters have to be vigilant with the patients.

‘€œIf somebody disappoints me by not coming, I feel bad. After work I go to their home and look for them. If they are not around I leave a message to say: ‘€˜I am looking for this person and they must please come see me very urgently for their treatment’€™. And, when they arrive the next day I remind them that ‘€˜this treatment is very important, you cannot afford to skip it’€™,’€ Winnie says.

‘€œSome even fight with me and deny that they are sick. But after sometime, they become very ill after having realised the fact that they are sick. They have no choice but to return because they die’€, she continues.

But Winnie feels as though TB DOT supporters are not given enough recognition for their dedication. She believes that the R1 000 stipend they receive is not enough.

‘€œIt seems they don’€™t remember us. But we do exist, even if we are few now. Many of us have left to work for research companies. Some say they are wasting their time here with no money. Even to recruit people… it is difficult because they ask you how much they are going to get. But I told myself this is who I am and this is where I want to be’€, she says.

She adds that often, NGOs that employ them have been unable to pay them their small stipends.

‘€œThey made us stay for eight months without it. That was the toughest part. We did go for five months without a stipend before, but it wasn’€™t as bad as eight months’€, says Winnie.

Deputy Director for Communicable Diseases at the city of Johannesburg’€™s Department of Health, Antonia Barnad, has acknowledged the critical importance of having DOT supporters.

‘€œIf you don’€™t go home with the patient it may be difficult to find their house and trace them. We don’€™t have the staffing for that. So, we rely on non-governmental organisations to give us community health workers to do that’€, says Barnard.