Every year World TB Day is commemorated on 24 March to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the TB epidemic.

As part of the efforts to raise public awareness on TB, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) will be hosting an art exhibition at the Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine (IDM), situated in the Wolfson Pavilion Building, in the Faculty of Health Sciences. The exhibition will display images from a project called “Patient Journeys in Tuberculous Meningitis Research”, which is co-led by Angharad Davis (Wellcome clinical PhD fellow and research engagement champion) and Mpumi Maxebengula (study coordinator) at CIDRI-Africa and was funded by a Wellcome Public Enrichment project to CIDRI-Africa.

The project stems from the need to develop tools to better communicate with patients involved in TB research, which would help patients understand why it is important to research this disease and what taking part in TB research may involve.

Davis and Maxebengula worked with illustrators and graphic designers to bring these journeys to life in the form of a series of artwork. The artwork will be displayed during World TB week (22 to 25 March) to educate researchers and the wider public about the patient journey in tuberculous meningitis research.

Date: 22 to 25 March 2022