The Open Society Foundations will host a film screening that raises concerns about TB, HIV, and human rights violations in South Africa’s mining industry. They Go To Die investigates the process known as “sending them home to die”: Migrant workers become sick with tuberculosis and HIV, and are fired, denied access to health care, and sent back to their home communities without essential medicines. One of the four miners featured in the film, Earnest Musa Mkoko, and his wife, Nozipho Mkoko, will participate in a question and answer session after the film, along with the film's director, Jonathan Smith.
They Go to Die (75 minutes) is a feature length documentary-in-progress investigating the life of four former migrant gold mineworkers in southern Africa who have contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and HIV while working at the gold mine, and one American graduate student’s journey to discover the true extent of the TB/HIV epidemic. When the miners fail to improve their TB status at the mining hospital, they are sent home to rural areas of South Africa with no continuation of care or means for treatment. This practice is commonly referred to as “sending them home to die” by leading health officials. However, it is still allowed under South African legislation.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.