Norbert Ndjeka

About

Focused, resilient, and generally optimistic.
Prof. Norbert Ndjeka is the Chief Director: TB Control and Management at the National Department of Health as from the 1st of February 2022. He was the Director, Drug-Resistant TB, TB & HIV at the National Department of Health in South Africa between May 2009 and January 2022. His vision is to strengthen the programmatic and clinical management of Drug-Resistant TB (DR-TB). Under his leadership, there has been a decline in the number of cases of DR -TB in South Africa and a remarkable improvement in the proportion of patients successfully treated for DR- TB.
He is a Specialist Family Physician with an interest in TB and HIV.
He is currently the Chairperson of the Afro-GLC (African Green Light Committee), a committee that advises WHO on how to manage drug-resistant tuberculosis. He is also the Chair of SADC END TB Committee. He recently received an Honorary Doctorate from UCT in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the fight against DR-TB locally and globally.
He has numerous peer-reviewed publications in various scientific journals.

Employment

• National Department of Health Chief Director: TB Control & Management
  2022 - Present
• University of Cape Town Honorary Associate Professor
  2022 - Present
• National Department of Health Director drug-resistant TB, TB & HIV
  2009 - 2022
• University Research Co. MDR-TB and Infection Control Advisor
  2007 - 2009
• Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development Senior Specialist Family Medicine and Clinical Head of Limpopo MDR-TB Unit
  2005 - 2007
• Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Senior Lecturer
  2002 - 2007
• Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development Senior Medical Superintendent - Warmbaths Hospital
  1999 - 2004
• Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development Medical Superintendent- St Rita's Hospital
  1994 - 1999
• Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development Medical Officer - Botlokwa HC/Kgapane Hosp and St Rita's Hospital
  1991 - 1994

Education

• University of KwaZulu-Natal PhD
  2021 - 2025

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (48)

• Can the near point-of-care TB test close the diagnostic gap in Africa?
  The Lancet Regional Health - Africa 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.lanafr.2026.100075
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• Cost-effectiveness of bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid for treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa, Georgia and the Philippines
  BMJ Open 2021 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051521
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• Preparing the healthcare workforce in South Africa for short-course rifampicin-resistant TB treatment: inter-professional training and task-sharing considerations.
  Human resources for health 2021 DOI: 10.1186/s12960-020-00552-1
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• OBITUARIES Iqbal Haroon Master: researched and implemented new drugs and models of care for treating tuberculosis
  BMJ 2021 DOI: 10.1136/BMJ.N749
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• OBITUARY Iqbal Haroon Master, 5 December 1962-15 January 2021
  South African Medical Journal 2021
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• Treatment Outcomes 24 Months after Initiating Short Bedaquiline- or Injectable-Containing Rifampicin-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment Regimens: A Retrospective Cohort Study in South Africa
  2021 DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3927770
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• Improving Quality of Patient Data for Treatment of Multidrug- or Rifampin-Resistant Tuberculosis.
  Emerging infectious diseases 2020 DOI: 10.3201/eid2603.190997
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• Nurse practitioner-led MDR-TB/HIV treatment may offer a safe approach to improve access to care: Results from a longitudinal cohort in Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa
  Journal of the International AIDS Society 2020
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• Bedaquiline and clofazimine: successes and challenges Comment
  The Lancet Microbe 2020 DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30097-5
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• Preparing the healthcare workforce in South Africa for short-course rifampicin-resistant TB treatment: Inter-professional training and task-sharing considerations
  2020 DOI: 10.21203/rs.2.22225/v1
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