OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS Prof Bavesh Kana awarded a gold medal for tuberculosis molecular diagnosis

It's World TB Day and award-winning microbiologist Bavesh Kana knows molecular diagnostics can take on this lethal bacterial disease that still kills millions

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises 24 March as World TB Day, the theme of which this year is Yes! We can end TB!

The theme aims to inspire hope and encourage highlevel leadership, increased investments, faster uptake of new WHO recommendations, adoption of innovations, accelerated action, and multisectoral collaboration to combat the TB epidemic

Stepping up on the high-level leadership and adoption of innovations front is Wits Professor Bavesh Kana who directs the Wits node of the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research (CBTBR)

Earlier this month Kana was awarded a Gold Medal at the 9th Scientific Merit Awards hosted by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)

These awards are among South Africa’s most prestigious and are dedicated to contributions to health research in South Africa

Gold medals are awarded to established senior scientists who have made seminal scientific contributions that have impacted people’s health, especially that of those living in developing countries

Innovation in molecular diagnostics

Molecular diagnostics are laboratory methods that are used to help identify a disease – or the risk of developing a disease – by sequencing a patient’s DNA or RNA for markers of potential diseases in future.

Kana’s research focuses on TB diagnostics, vaccines and the discovery of new TB drug targets More recently, he has directed efforts towards developing new molecular diagnostics for a range of diseases.

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