Redi Tlhabi chats to Yvonne Chaka Chaka on South 2 North

During South 2 North’s half-hour timeslot on Friday, 26 April 2013, malaria will claim the lives of more than a hundred people.

“This week we’re talking about malaria and TB, infectious diseases that cost so little to treat, yet kill thousands of people every day,” says Redi Tlhabi, who hosts the Al Jazeera English talk show from Johannesburg, South Africa.

To understand the crisis, Redi will be speaking to Yvonne Chaka Chaka, UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador against malaria and the ambassador for Roll-Back Malaria.

One of Africa’s most famous musical talents, Yvonne is the first African woman to receive the World Economic Forum’s Crystal award for artists who improve the world through their work.

Malaria costs Africa an estimated US$ 12 billion every year in lost GDP, even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum, so why is this treatable disease still one of the biggest killers across Africa and Asia? Malaria is endemic in 106 countries: why is it perceived as an African problem?

In addition to discussing these questions and why she joined the fight against malaria, Yvonne will share anecdotes about meeting Nobel Prize winner Nelson Mandela and becoming a princess of Africa.

Redi will also speak to two doctors on the frontline: Dr. Lucica Ditiu, executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership based at The World Health Organisation in Geneva; and Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng, the executive vice-president of The Clinton Health Access Initiative and Lesotho’s former Health Minister.

Worldwide, one in four TB deaths are HIV/Aids-related, so how have the two diseases impacted on each other? 

Are malaria and TB evolving to become drug-resistant, and are we any closer to cures? 

Watch Redi ask the important questions on this week’s episode of South 2 North, which premieres at 8:30pm WAT on Friday, 26 April 2013 and also screens Saturday at 3:30pm, Sunday 5:30am and Monday 9:30am.

For more information, visit http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/south2north/, where all episodes are available to watch online.

You can also tweet your questions, comments and opinions to @AJSouth2North or find South 2 North on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-2-North/255419671252120.

Catch up on last week’s episode, where Redi spoke to Navi Pillay, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Thando Hopa a model with albinism who’s using her law degree to change perceptions about people living with the condition below;