TAC mourns 'courageous' Toms

2008-03-26 10:07

Johannesburg - The Treatment Action Campaign on Tuesday mourned the sudden death of Dr Ivan Toms, the head of City Health in the Cape Town Metro.

"Ivan was known to many TAC leaders since the early 1980s. We remember Ivan as a friend, comrade, gay activist and public health official," the TAC said.

"Ivan Toms was a courageous doctor at the SACLA Clinic in Crossroads who resisted forced removals, military incursions and pass law enforcement in townships. He became a conscientious objector in the Conscientious Objector Support Group and the End Conscription Campaign."

Toms served time in prison for refusing to serve in the apartheid army. He was also a doctor who volunteered his time for the free clinic run by the Bellville Community Health Projects in the 1980s.

He was a leader in OLGA, the Organisation of Lesbian and Gay Activists - an affiliate of the United Democratic Front (UDF). He was a founder of the Progressive Primary Healthcare Network. Toms was also a pioneer of HIV prevention work.

Recently, as head of City Health in the Cape Town Metro, Toms regularly attended TAC Western Cape planning meetings and through Dr Virginia Azevedo developed a partnership with TAC's model district in Khayelitsha.

Key to joint work between City Health and TAC Khayelitsha was HIV prevention work with the distribution of more than nine million condoms in the community in 2007.

Joint work by TAC, City Health, the Provincial Health Department, MSF and others as partners on TB increased the cure rate from 53% to 68%. City Health also increased the number of antiretroviral rollout sites, the TAC said.

TAC deputy general-secretary Zackie Achmat said: "I met Ivan Toms in 1982. He was always committed to public health. He was an energetic, humorous and dedicated activist. Anti-apartheid activists will mourn his premature death."

The TAC extended condolences to his family, friends, comrades and colleagues.

- SAPA