Soc Sci Med. 2016 May 10;161:13-18. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.015. [Epub ahead of print]

Forced removals embodied as tuberculosis.

Richardson ET1, Morrow CD2, Ho T2, Fürst N2, Cohelia R2, Tram KH2, Farmer PE3, Wood R2.

Author information

• 1Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, USA; Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA; Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: etr@stanford.edu.
• 2Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
• 3Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA; Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

Abstract

South Africa has one of the worst tuberculosis burdens in the world. Several ecological forces have contributed to this, including high HIV prevalence; failing TB control strategies; crowded, poorly ventilated indoor environments-including the complex web of political and economic interests which produce them; the development of racial capitalism; and mining and migration. In the following study, we measure CO2 levels in public transport to investigate the role extended commutes from peri-urban settlements to urban sites of work-a direct result of forced removals-potentially play in propagating the TB epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa.