About Us

Our Story

The Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre (DTTC) is an academic research centre located in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa, established in 2003. In 2004, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who suffered from tuberculosis as a child, became its patron and the centre was formally named.

The goals of the centre are designed on a strategy built on basic and applied research, as well as on the training of students and communities in all aspects of tuberculosis (TB). The Centre operates from the premise that grassroots research must never be underestimated; including working with communities and investigations into the everyday challenges of people infected and affected by TB and HIV. Our endeavours are proof that successful treatments in clinics, health centres and even in people’s homes, are not detached from research, but are in fact interdependent on each other. Central to the DTTC’s work is the dissemination of information back to the research communities in addition to other appropriate stakeholders, including health services.

The majority of the Centre’s support is from research grant funding, obtained through international and national grant funding agencies.