Lying in the shadow of Table Mountain, a short drive from the sprawling vineyards that help generate so much of South Africa’s tourism revenue, is Langa. In the city of Cape Town, this is the oldest example of a township, settlements originally created to segregate the black African community from urban areas. Today, Langa is home to just under 90,000 people, many of whom live in wooden or corrugated iron shacks.
But while Langa and South Africa’s other townships have traditionally suffered from diseases of deprivation such as tuberculosis, an infection facilitated by crowded and poorly ventilated living conditions, lifestyle-related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke and heart disease have become rife in recent decades.
