The TB Think Tank (TB TT) was established in 2014 at the 4th South African TB Conference in an effort to strengthen the government’s programmatic TB response. TB TT is a national network of TB experts who advise the National Department of Health on evidence-based TB prevention and control policy and programmes, chaired by the Chief Director of the NDoH’s TB Cluster. In addition to NDoH representatives, the TB TT consists of a wide range of TB and TB-HIV stakeholders, including public-sector health practitioners, researchers, implementing and donor organisations, civil society and private sector. Representatives from NDoH identify annual priorities for the TB TT, and members, through individual technical Task Teams, collectively prioritise key activities. The TB TT functions through an Executive Committee responsible for delivering its mission and mandate. A Secretariat manages the day-to-day activities and the administration of Task Teams. Each Task Team is responsible for the execution of specific work plans and enables broad-based stakeholder representation on the TB TT.
The National TB Think Tank is structured with an Executive Committee (EXCO), the Secretariat, and Technical Task Teams which are aligned to national priority activities.
Chair: N Ndjeka
Co-Chair: F Abdullah
Members: (Secretariat & Task Team Chairs)
The Aurum Institute
P Subrayen
J Boffa
M Dube
M Nkosi
F Sathar
Chair: L Lebina
Co-Chairs: K Velen; E N Ramarumo
Chair: M Loveday
Co-Chairs: L Davids; S Moyo
Chair: P Subrayen
Co-Chair: G Tanna; Y Kock
Chair: T Sole Moloto
Co-Chairs: N Mkhondo; D Goldberg
Chair: M Kubjane
Co-Chairs: E Mohr-Holland; D Mudzengi
The Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring the achievement of the Think Tank’s vision, mission and mandate.
Specific functions of the EXCO include:
| Chair | Prof Norbert Ndjeka, Chief Director: TB Control & Management, NDoH | Co-Chair | Dr Fareed Abdullah- Director, Office of AIDS and TB Research, South African Medical Research Council |
| Members | Task Team Chairs and Secretariat members |
| Secretariat | Dr Priashni Subrayen, TB Technical Advisor; Dr Jody Boffa, Scientist; Ms Nolwazi Nkosi, Programme Coordinator |
Professor Norbert Ndjeka is the Chief Director of TB Control and Management at the National Department of Health in South Africa. Previously, he served as director of drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV. Under his leadership, there has been a decline in the number of drug-resistant TB cases in South Africa and a remarkable improvement in the proportion of patients successfully treated for drug-resistant TB.
He is a family physician specialist interested in tuberculosis and HIV. He holds a diploma in clinical management of HIV and a diploma in management of health institutions. He is the author of numerous articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has coordinated and drafted treatment guides and training modules for drug-resistant tuberculosis in several African countries.
He is currently the chair of the African Green Light Committee (Afro-GLC), a committee that advises WHO on how to manage drug-resistant tuberculosis. He is also president of the END TB SADC Committee. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosis locally and globally. He is appointed as an Honorary Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
Dr Fareed Abdullah is a recipient of the French Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) for his work as a clinical researcher and public health scientist in the fight against HIV and TB.
He is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu- Natal’s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine and currently serves as Director: Office of AIDS and TB Research at the South African Medical Research Council. Dr Abdullah also holds a part-time appointment as an HIV clinician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.
Dr. Priashni Subrayen currently serves as Technical Director TB at The Aurum Institute which is a global healthcare solutions company and is also the head of the TB Think Tank Secretariat. She is currently also chairing the newly formed Data System and Innovations Task Team to ensure TB Data systems are responsive to TB programme needs. Having qualified as a medical doctor in 2002, she has more than 15 years of experience working in public health in South Africa and abroad. After acquiring a formal business education, she developed a keen interest in systems thinking, process re-engineering and continuous quality improvement which has been her specialised area for the past twelve years with TB HIV. The work in TB includes technical and clinical support to the Department of Health (DoH) at National, Provincial, District and facility level with a focus on data analytics for evidence-based improvement and design of interventions. She is responsible for the overall execution of the TB Think Tank’s Goals and Objectives and the management of the Secretariat.
Dr. Jody Boffa is an epidemiologist with nearly 20 years of health systems and community-based research experience in TB in the global South, including over a decade in South Africa. In addition to her role as Scientist with the TB Think Tank, Dr. Jody is a Research Fellow in the Division of Epidemology and Biostatistics at Stellenbosch University amd the Centre for Rural Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has a PHD in Epidemology from the University of Calgary and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Pai TB Research group at McGill University, Canada. Her research interests include person-centred TB care, community empowerment, quality assessment utilising standardised patients, and the integration of informal and private sectors with the public system in South Africa.
A professional Programme Manager with over 17 years of work experience in the NGO and clinical research industries. A graduate of the University of Pretoria with a MPH in public health, and a keen interest in TB, HIV and other emerging health issues. The main objective of his work in public health is to optimise health care outcomes through evidence generation for evidence-based policies and programmes.
Motivated and results-oriented Project Coordinator with a Master’s degree on Sociology from Rhodes University. The NGO sector is Nolwazi’s area of expertise. She has the experience working on HIV Prevention Programmes for key populations in Ekhurleni District and the Covid Emergency Grant Pilot Program in Buffalo City. Her interests include sexual reproductive health for adolescent girls and young women, particularly in rural areas, and changes in social norms. Eager to learn more about TB and its complexities.
Dr Limakatso Lebina holds a MBChB degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT), a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Liverpool and a PhD in Public Health from UCT. Her clinical research experience includes managing clinical trials and undertaking scientific studies on HIV, TB, and COVID-19 prevention and treatment. She is currently the clinical research site lead at THE Africa Health Research Institute (ARHI). Dr Lebina is also passionate about public health policy development, and leads the ‘Finding the Missing TB Patients’ task team at the South African TB Think Tank.
Ms Tebogo Sole Moloto is a Research Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), TB Platform Unit. With over 5 years of professional-level experience in conducting public health research in TB/HIV and behavioural related contract research projects; Tebogo currently serves as a Co-PI in two CDC funded TB research activities. She is a registered Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) since 2017. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria and her key interests are on using mobile health technologies and applying psychological principles to understand medication adherence in the context of TB.
Dr Mmamapudi Kubjane is an epidemiologist and mathematical modeller interested in modelling TB and assessing the impacts of interventions at the population level. She received her undergraduate training in Mathematics (BSc Hons), followed by an MPH and a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, all from the University of Cape Town. Her PhD research focused on modelling TB, the effect of HIV on TB, and the drivers of high rates of TB in men in South Africa. This involved extending an existing mathematical model of HIV in South Africa (the Thembisa model) to include TB transmission dynamics. She currently works at the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office, conducting economic evaluations of TB programmatic interventions and supporting the development of the South African TB Investment case. She has been a member of the TB Think for the last four years and now serves as the chair of the Epidemiology, Modelling and Health Economics Task Team.
Is a public health researcher at the South African Medical Research Council with expertise in health systems, implementation and clinical research in TB, RR-TB and HIV. Recently her research has focussed on pregnant women with RR-TB, reporting treatment, pregnancy and infant outcomes in this vulnerable population. Since 2018 Dr Loveday has been a member of the executive committee of the TB Think Tank. In 2021, she was invited to be a member of the WHO working group on TB in adolescents and children. She has honorary appointments at CAPRISA and the University of the Free State.
Dr Karen completed her medical training at the University of Pretoria and joined the Desmond Tutu TB Centre (DTTC) in 2008 to follow her passion to improve child health in lower-middle income countries. Currently, Karen holds a senior researcher position at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Stellenbosch University (SU) and leads paediatric TB epidemiology and implementation science research at the DTTC. Since joining the DTTC, she successfully completed an operational research fellowship at the Union, a distance learning MSc degree in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine cum laude, and a PhD at Stellenbosch University. She has also been a member of the World Health Organisation Child and Adolescent TB working group since 2012.
Farzana has been academically trained in the fields of epidemiology and biostatistics and is a Master of Public Health graduate from the University of Cape Town. She co-ordinated and lead various research projects in TB and COVID-19 for 8 years as a Research Manager at The Aurum Institute. During her 5 years in the United Kingdom, she managed home care services for the elderly and disabled. Home care is essential in promoting public health by enhancing individual care, reducing healthcare system strain, and fostering healthier communities. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Witwatersrand which is focussed on early TB diagnosis.
Dr Barry Kistnasamy is a public health medicine specialist with over 25 years of experience in health policy, planning, research, and advocacy across both public and private sectors. He holds an MBChB and MMed from the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal), with additional training in health economics, occupational and environmental health, epidemiology, and health leadership from institutions in the UK and US. His career has been marked by significant roles, including Deputy Director-General in the Northern Cape, Dean of the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, and Executive Director of the National Institute for Occupational Health. Currently, he serves as South Africa’s Compensation Commissioner for occupational diseases, focusing on justice for miners affected by lung diseases, and co-chairs the TB Think Tank for TB in the Mines Task Team.
The work of the TB TT is operationalised and executed through Task Teams which are established in alignment with national priorities.
Currently, the TB Think Tank has 5 Task Teams as outlined below:
Finding Missing TB Patients focuses on all steps relating to broadening the reach of screening and diagnosis – including new diagnostic tools and improving algorithms, reaching high-risk populations, and strategies to reduce initial loss to follow-up. Service delivery issues related to testing delays and populations not accessing the formal health sector also fall under its purview.
Optimising Treatment Outcomes focuses on new treatment regimens and dosages as well as retention in care. This Task Team also considers multi-morbidities associated with TB, reducing TB-related mortality, and issues relating to service delivery and person-centred care.
The Epidemiology, Modelling, and Health Economics Task Team utilises national laboratory and clinical notification data as well as primary research and locally-based models to answer questions of primary importance to TB prevention and control. The Task Team also considers economic and impact analyses of TB-related interventions and policies.
The TB Prevention Task Team focuses on preventive therapy and adherence to preventive therapy, TB infection control, and consideration of future vaccine candidates.
The newest of the Task Teams, Data Systems and Innovation will focus on advancing data access and integrating national clinical and laboratory data to improve continuity of care and facilitate better monitoring and evaluation. Other service innovations will also be taken up by this Task Team.
The team addresses the unique cross-cutting considerations for children and adolescents and Maternal health on TB. The Working Group’s primary focus is on creating paediatric TB guidelines and related stationery, reviewing and synthesising evidence to advise the National TB Programming, policy, and planning. Members of this working group span each of the Task Teams.
The TB in the Mines Working Group offers expert guidance to prevent and control tuberculosis in small to mid-sized mining sectors, peri-mining communities, and labor-sending areas. The group also supports the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) and the Management of Occupational Diseases (MBoD) in conducting health screenings and providing compensation for occupational lung diseases to eligible former mine workers and their dependents.
