Photo: Two-year-old Fadilla before and after receiving treatment for severe malnutrition and tuberculosis. 

When Fadilla’s grandmother brought her to the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Am Timan, Chad, she wasn’t just malnourished – she was sick and in danger of dying.

At just 13 pounds, Fadilla weighed only about half of what a two-year-old child should. At the hospital, our teams diagnosed her with severe acute malnutrition and tuberculosis – two life-threatening medical conditions.

Malnutrition is a serious medical condition, and recovery only gets more difficult when illnesses like malaria or tuberculosis are also present. But with quality medical treatment, even children as sick as Fadilla can make a full recovery. It’s possible thanks to innovations like 33-cent packets of milk-based ready-to-use therapeutic food that are so simple to administer – most malnourished children can be treated by their parents or caregivers at home.

Fadilla’s tuberculosis meant she had to stay in the hospital, but after months of intensive treatment, the brightness returned to Fadilla’s eyes and she reached her target weight. “Look at Fadilla now!” her grandmother exclaimed to the hospital staff. “She is doing so much better!”

Thanks to the support of our donors, we treated 408,000 malnourished children last year. Our medical teams are able to travel to some of the most remote, dangerous, and neglected parts of the world to identify and treat children, like Fadilla, suffering from malnutrition.

There’s hope for even the most severely malnourished child. If we can reach them in time, treatments like therapeutic foods can help children who might not otherwise survive.

Donate to help Doctors Without Borders save the lives of malnourished children and bring quality medical care to people in nearly 70 countries around the world.

Photo: Young MDR-TB patients take part in developmental activities at the pediatric hospital in Dushanbe. Tajikistan 2012 © Natasha Sergeeva/MSF

Treating “Family Tuberculosis” in Tajikstan

For the first time, children in Tajikistan with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are receiving treatment for the life-threatening disease. MSF’s new ward in Tajikstan will treat 60-100 children with TB, with special attention to family treatment.

“For MSF, a child often serves as an entry point into a family with TB,” says Zarkua. “When we identify a sick child, we can provide the family with information on how to reduce the spread of the disease, and we can trace contacts within the family to see who else might be infected.”

From the Ground Up: Building a Drug-Resistant TB Program in Uganda

Uganda is one of the world’s 22 high burden countries for tuberculosis (TB). Despite having a national treatment program for drug-sensitive TB, there has been an emergence of drug-resistant strains of the disease, which are presenting a new and urgent threat to people’s health. So far in Uganda, 226 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been confirmed, spread across 40 districts, but the true figure is likely to be much higher.

The best way to stop the disease from spreading is to start patients on treatment early. Aware of the urgency of the problem, the Ugandan government is taking steps to start treating DR-TB. Funding for DR-TB drugs is on its way, the drug order has been placed, and the government is planning a 40-bed ward for DR-TB patients in Mulago hospital in Kampala.

MSF firmly believes that a feasible model of care already exists in the Ugandan context. Since 2009, MSF has been running a community-based and comprehensive TB treatment program in Kitgum, in northern Uganda, hand in hand with the Ministry of Health.

Photo: Uganda 2011 © Andrea Stultiens

MDR-TB patient Oyella Mercy’s family in Kitgum

Tuberculosis  (TB) is often thought of as a disease of the past, but an ongoing resurgence makes it very much an issue of the present day and age.

TB is caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, that the World Health Organization says infects one third of the world’s population. Between 5 and 10 percent of infected people develop the disease and become contagious at some point in their lives. (For those with HIV or AIDS, however, the rate is much higher.)

The disease usually develops in the lungs, although there are extra-pulmonary cases where the bacilli infect other parts of the body, usually the lymph nodes, bones, central nervous system, and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. Major symptoms of TB are: prolonged cough, bloody expectorations, chest pain, and changes in a person’s general health status. Coughing, sneezing, talking, and spitting can all spread the bacilli into the air, where they can remain viable for several hours before being inhaled by another person.

Infographic by better-things.co.uk

Tuberculosis in 2012 Tuberculosis (TB) is often thought of as a disease of the past, but an ongoing resurgence makes it very much an issue of the present day and age.

New data suggests that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much larger than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease.

MSF is calling on governments, international donors, and drug companies to fight the spread of drug-resistant TB with new financing and new efforts to develop effective and affordable diagnostic tools and drugs. Far shorter and less toxic drug regimens are needed, along with currently non-existent formulations for children, and a point-of-care diagnostics test. Regulatory measures need to be enforced to prevent further spread of the disease due to mismanagement by practitioners.

Infographic by better-things.co.uk

MSF Blogs: TB&ME

TB&ME is a collaborative blogging project by patients being treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and MSF in locations all around the world. They write about their experiences living with MDR-TB and the treatment that they receive. This treatment can often involve taking upwards of 20 pills a day for 24 months and suffering many painful side effects from the toxic drugs.

TB&ME gives MDR-TB patients an opportunity to tell the world about the issues that affect their lives, about how treatment and services could be improved, and how it feels to have this disease. It also provides an opportunity for patients to tell the world that MDR-TB exists in their own words, that it is a global problem and to share their experiences with others who might be in the same position.

Photo: South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinders
Phumeza, an XDR-TB patient and TB&ME blogger in South Africa

Armenia: In Fight Against TB, MSF Expands Patient Centered Approach

MSF has stepped up the implementation of its patient-centered drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) treatment program in Armenia in order to combat the alarming rising rates of the disease in the country.

MSF’s patient-centered program aims to provide a complete package of care for DR-TB patients, including medical, social, and psychological support. Once a patient starts treatment, MSF tries to help them cope with the side effects by providing face-to-face individual medical monitoring and treatment, individual or group counseling, home visits, and food assistance—all of which are designed to help patients adhere to the drug regimen. A comprehensive follow up program helps as well, as does patient education and access to care, which can be improved by bringing the care as close to the patients as possible.

Armenia 2012 © Eddy McCall/MSF
An MSF TB doctor conducts a home-based visit for a DRTB patient in Armenia.

Cambodia: Improving TB Detection and Treatment in Prisons

Doctors Without Borders is expanding medical activities in three prisons in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to include basic primary health care in addition to providing ongoing tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS screening and treatment support.

MSF has been working in CC1, CC2, and PJ prisons in Phnom Penh, which collectively contain 25 percent of Cambodia’s total prison population, since February 2010. The priorities have been to improve detection of TB and HIV and provide correct care and treatment for prisoners affected by the diseases during their detention. TB is spread by airborne droplets released when an infected person coughs, so the overcrowded, poorly ventilated and cramped conditions in Cambodian prisons provide ideal conditions for the disease to breed.

Photo: Cambodia 2011 © Christine Wagari/MSF MSF staff supervise TB and HIV screening in CC1 Prison, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Alarming Scale of Multidrug-Resistant TB Requires Rapid Response

Alarming new data suggest that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders announced today.

“Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching the surface of the problem,” said MSF president Dr. Unni Karunakara. “And with 95 percent of TB patients worldwide lacking access to proper diagnosis, efforts to scale up detection of MDR-TB are being severely undermined by a retreat in donor funding— precisely when increased funding is needed most.”

Photo: India 2012 © Bithin Das
Some of the drugs, part of a long, difficult regimen, that MDR-TB patients must take