• Lazola Booi and Gregory D Breetzke.
• Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
• Afr Health Sci. 2022 Jun 1; 22 (2): 162168162-168.

BackgroundThe availability of alcohol in society is known to increase the risk of a range of negative health outcomes.ObjectivesThe aim of this research is to determine if there is a spatial association between tuberculosis and alcohol outlets in Mamelodi, South Africa. We also aim to examine whether the socio-economic characteristics of the neighbourhood in which an alcohol outlet was located was related to the magnitude of tuberculosis in the immediate vicinity of the alcohol outlet.MethodsLocation quotient analysis is used to compare the extent of tuberculosis within a series of buffer intervals (100m, 200m, 300m) immediately surrounding alcohol outlets with tuberculosis across the township of Mamelodi as a whole.ResultsThe density of tuberculosis around alcohol outlets in Mamelodi at all buffer distances was found to be substantially higher than across the township as a whole. These findings indicate that the risk of tuberculosis in Mamelodi is higher around alcohol outlets. Alcohol outlets located in more deprived areas of Mamelodi were significantly associated with higher density of tuberculosis relative to alcohol outlets located in more affluent neighbourhoods.ConclusionDespite alcohol outlets forming an integral part of the urban landscape in townships in South Africa, they may facilitate the transmission of tuberculosis.© 2022 Booi L et al.

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