Emmanuel Taban

When the 17-year-old Emmanuel Taban arrived in Johannesburg from war-torn South Sudan with nothing, he had only five years of education behind him.

Today this former Medunsa student is a highly qualified pulmonologist, with a European Diploma in adult respiratory medicine. During 2020, he was at the forefront of the treatment of Covid-19 patients in ICU.

Taban was the first pulmonologist in the world to perform a therapeutic bronchoscopy on a hypoxemic Covid-19 patient, discovering that some deaths from Covid-19 pneumonia are due to fibrinous mucus plugs.

Author's books

The Boy Who Never Gave Up

By refusing to give up, Emmanuel Taban has risen above extreme poverty, racism and xenophobia to become a South African legend. Taban was the Daily Maverick’s African Person of the Year (2021)

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