When Goodman Makanda was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in 2013, he prepared himself to take drugs for two years at the most.

But his treatment repeatedly failed and he ended up on toxic medication for double that period. The father of one from Khayelitsha in Cape Town also lost part of a lung.

Makanda was taking 35 tablets a day.

"Every time I swallowed those drugs I felt sicker ... like I was slowly committing suicide due to the terrible side-effects such as nausea and drowsiness," he said.

Now that he is cured, after being given the newer drugs bedaquiline and delamanid as part of a Doctors Without Borders programme, Makanda has become an activist for more affordable TB medication.

He has just returned from India where he attended the Union World Conference on Lung Health, the largest gathering of clinicians, health workers, policymakers, researchers and advocates discussing TB in the developing world.

Makanda, who took part in protests during the meeting, is responding to his conviction that while countries such as SA have access to newer TB drugs, many governments cannot afford them.

This year, SA became the first country to replace TB injectables, which are associated with toxic side-effects such as hearing loss, with promising new oral medicine bedaquiline. It is one of only three TB drugs, including delamanid and pretomanid, developed in the past 50 years.

But the country has been criticised for lagging behind in using delamanid, which is recommended by the World Health Organisation for use in people with drug-resistant TB.

Spokesperson for Doctors without Borders Angela Makamure said the three newer drugs were too expensive for many countries.

"Only 20% of people with drug-resistant TB have been able to receive them," she said.