“It was troubling me to see the increasing number of patients who always have many problems with different health and diseases, most of which is because they do not understand the language and words used to describe the different conditions that affect their health.”
Dr. Lethukwenama Letsoalo says so, recounting his idea of helping patients and people who need help with different health conditions and diseases, using social media to spread your knowledge with the aim of helping people.
This is what Dr. Letsoalo, from Bergville, in the middle of KwaZulu-Natal – is doing using social media with his Zulu videos, which has made him famous as he now has more than 323,000 followers on Facebook, more than 48,000 on Instagram, more than 307,000 and more than 1.9 million likes on TikTok.
“The idea of this came to me six years ago when I was doing my medical studies, where I realized how big a gap there is between patients who understand and don’t understand the different things they should do or know about their bodies, which makes it difficult for most of them to heal themselves and live,” said Dr. Letsoalo.
Continuing, he said that understanding that many people speak Zulu, he chose to use it to explain health terms, and to properly analyze the explanations they need to avoid confusing them with different diseases that they need information and clarity about.
“I remember that I started using YouTibe, and I gradually continued to these social media because I see that they are the ones that I am followed the most. And what I like the most about this is that I can also talk to people live, they ask questions that need clarification – I just answer them easily,” he said.
He said that the daily recommendations of people recommending the help of his videos, which often talk about sexually transmitted diseases and other contagious diseases – is what motivates him to continue this work that will make people aware of different diseases that often give them problems due to the lack of information on how to treat them and avoid them easily.
“Besides that, I am also looking to continue using my health knowledge to help the public understand the different health-related conditions that are bothering them, as soon I will carry out this work to educate people about these conditions using modern technology to make a profit from it,” he said.
Dr Letsoalo, currently working independently – holds a medical degree from Stellenbosch University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health from the University of Pretoria and recently completed a Master’s Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.