Earlier this year, Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green revealed that she is a Tuberculosis survivor and that one of her goals during her Miss South Africa reign is to help educate people about the disease and how to treat it. Now, Tamaryn is taking her mission global as she has been invited to has been invited to address the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York about the disease next week. The meeting is the first ever United Nations High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis.
Tamaryn – attending under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, advocacy organisation, Stop TB and the SA Department of Health – said she wanted to add her voice to the TB call for action, a global movement that is currently under the spotlight on the world stage.
She says she chose to focus on tuberculosis as her official year of reign campaign “to make a difference in the lives of millions of TB sufferers through my very personal #breakthestigma campaign”.
Tamaryn, who will be addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23 says “The world is on the cusp of a global push to deal with this killer disease. I am very grateful to have the power of the Miss South Africa platform – which is so much bigger than I could ever have imagined – and to be in a position to make my voice heard. Because of my title, I have an opportunity to help as many people as I can,” she says.
She adds that “I am also excited that I will be in New York at the launch of the United Nations Nelson Mandela Peace Summit which will focus on global peace. It is in honour of the centenary of Madiba and will take place at the UN headquarters on what is our Heritage Day, September 24th.”
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