Photo Story: Fighting diabetes in rural South Africa
People living with diabetes need consistent care and medication to manage their condition. In places like Butterworth, the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, many patients are compelled to travel long distances, sometimes up to twice a month, for treatment or screenings at health centres. This process is costly and cumbersome, and many patients default or are never initiated into treatment. To make treatment more accessible, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has established four external medication pick-up points (PUPs) in rural communities, allowing patients to collect chronic medication closer to home.
The Nyhwara medication pick-up point services the remote Dutywa community in the Mbashe local Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa.Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaCaregiver Nokhawuntala Chithilali (left) supports patient Sinazo Litoli (right) at the Nyhwara pick-up point. By bringing care closer to home, local caregivers play a key role in helping patients manage chronic conditions like diabetes.Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaNomusa Menziwa, a caregiver with the Nyhwara Community Based Organisation (CBO), sits outside the MSF-supported pick-up point in Mbashe, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Nomusa delivers medication to elderly patients who cannot travel to the pickup point, checks on them at home, and encourages healthy lifestyle routines. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South Africa
Nokhawulezile Ngontsi from Godidi Village, Eastern Cape, South Africa, used to walk about 9 kilometres to Tafalofefe Hospital to collect her diabetes medication. The MS MSF supported pick-up point, just a stone’s throw from her home, makes it much easier for her to access medicine and routine screenings. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaNokhawulezile Ngontsi stands outside her home in Godidi Village, 31 km outside Butterworth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. With the establishment of the ZamaT pick-up point at the Chief’s residence, she now travels far less to access her medication. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF staff member Zizo Kawe is based at the Tyhali pick-up-point in Godidi Village, about 31 km from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Here, she supports diabetes patients in managing their condition through tpoints e distribution of medication at the pick up points and health education. The pick-up point has brought care closer to the homes of rural patients, reducing the need for them to travel long distances to hospitals or clinics. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaBetween consultations, MSF staff member Zizo Kawe, carefully monitors records, a crucial part in ensuring continuity of care for people living with chronic diseases. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaBuilding healthier futures, one step at a time. The Iliso community-based organisation (CBO) facilitates peer-led group gatherings where community members support each other's journey to better health. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF Health Promotion Officer Siphokazi Mtshizana (right) speaks with a Eastern Cape Department of Health patient, Simphiwe Kamden, about the importance of treatment adherence at Tafalofefe Hospital, in Cendane, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF health promotion officer Siphokazi Mtshizana receives a new batch of medication from a Department of Health (DoH) staff member headed to one of the community pick-up points. The transportation of medication from DoH facilities to local pick-up points helps ensure a reliable supply for chronic patients. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaAs part of its work to strengthen local health systems, MSF supplies surrounding health centres with the equipment needed to screen and manage diabetes. Staff members like Manando ‘Nande’ Noganta pack these vital supplies, ensuring patients receive timely care.Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaAt Nqamakwe Community Health Centre in Nqamakwe, Eastern Cape, South Africa, MSF staff Israel Chingosho and Fezile Jidane deliver vital diabetes care equipment, enabling improved screening and management for patients in the area.Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF driver Fezile Jidane at the MSF office, ready to transport teams and deliver care to communities in need. Drawing on his extensive experience with the Khayelitsha project, which for more than 20 years pioneered innovative responses to HIV and drug-resistant TB in South Africa’s Western Cape, Fezile says, “I feel good being here because we’re helping people who really need it. When we arrived, there were many gaps in access to care; people struggled to reach clinics to get their medication. Now, with MSF’s support, medicines are much closer to where they live.” Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF driver Bonga Ngxowa stands next to an MSF vehicle that supports the Eastern Cape Department of Health and community partners in delivering essential health services to hard-to-reach rural areas. Drivers like Bonga play a vital role in the programme, ensuring MSF teams can safely reach remote communities and deliver much-needed care. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaMSF driver Sabelo Mhlongo supports MSF teams in Butterworth, Eastern Cape province, ensuring they reach remote communities and health facilities. Previously, he worked on the Eshowe HIV/AIDS project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, helping bring HIV and TB care closer to people’s homes.Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaDoctor Jan Krisna Rodriguez is the project medical coordinator for MSF’s Eastern Cape project in South Africa. She supports the Department of Health, local communities, and community-based organisations in strengthening access to quality care for patients with chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Photographer: Vusimuzi Shiburi | Date: 07/07/2025 | Location: South AfricaLearn more about our activities in South Africa
Jane Rabothata
Communications Specialist, Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, we currently run a non-communicable diseases (NCDs) project in Butterworth, Eastern Cape province, where we support the Department of Health (DoH) in improving care for patients with diabetes and hypertension. The project focuses on improving screening, diagnosis, management, and prevention of NCDs through advocacy, research, health promotion, training, and mentorship of Community Healthcare Workers.
MSF is also recognised as one of the pioneers in providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector. It started the first HIV programme in South Africa in 1999. The organisation's earlier interventions in the country have primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape). The Eshowe project was handed over to DoH in 2023 after 12 years of operations. The Khayelitsha project was closed in 2020 after 22 years of activities and campaigning for improved HIV and TB treatment.
Other projects we have been involved in include our Migrant Project in the country's capital, Tshwane, which was handed over to authorities and a local Community-Based Organisation after building the capacity to work with undocumented populations. We also previously offered free, high-quality, and confidential medical care to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Rustenburg, North West province.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate
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Learn more about our activities in South Africa