Doctors Without Borders

Photographer and MSF field worker Misha Friedman visited MSF’s tuberculosis project in Nukus, western Uzbekistan, where he met patients with heartbreaking stories: a 19-year-old man whose year and a half of difficult treatment for multi drug-resistance TB (MDR-TB) did not work; a 16-year-old boy who has recovered but feels the stigma of having had TB; a young woman weighing 50 pounds, holding on to hope that her treatment will be effective.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Now that we have a new test that can detect DR-TB in less than two hours instead of three months, we’re going to see many more people who will need reliable drug supplies to be cured. We need to see some immediate action to resolve these problems and improve access to DR-TB drugs so that more people are started on treatment and transmission of this disease is reduced

Dr. Jennifer Hughes of MSF, in Khayelitsha, South Africa. While drug-resistant TB is on the rise, less than seven percent of 440,000 new cases each year are treated. DR-TB kills 150,000 people annually.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

MSF and Ministry of Health medical staff discuss a TB patient’s diagnosis at Kampong Cham Provincial Hospital.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Photo: Cambodia 2011 © Sean Brokenshire/MSF

A new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that was endorsed by the World Health Organization in late 2010 could well be a game-changer in the international response to a disease that kills nearly two million people each year. In a recent interview, Dr. Francis Varaine, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expert on TB, discusses the potential impact of this new test, which greatly improves the detection of drug-resistant TB, and how it will affect the need for more reliable and better treatment.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Photo: South Africa © Jose Cendon

Happiness Dlamini is an MSF patient on treatment for multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Swaziland. The treatment for MDR-TB requires taking less effective drugs with terrible side effects for up to two years. Happiness has 21 months of treatment remaining.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

MSF nurses regularly visit MDR-TB patients receving home-based care to make sure they are sticking to their drug regimine[MISPELLED - please look up how to spell this - thanks.].

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Photo: Cambodia 2011 © Sean Brokenshire/MSF

MSF medical staff discuss whether a child should be started on TB treatment at Kampong Cham Provincial Hospital.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Cambodia has one of the highest tuberculosis burdens in the world, according to the WHO. TB and its drug-resistant forms can be extremely difficult to diagnose and treat, especially in resource-poor countries, where the disease takes advantage of immune systems weaken by malnutrition and HIV, and people have limited access to health care. MSF has been working to improve TB diagnosis, treatment, and training in the southeastern city of Kampong Cham.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

You’re speaking here of a disease that is impacting the lives of tens and tens of thousands in Cambodia. So you’re talking of people who cannot go to school, that cannot learn, cannot work. Knowing that poverty is very high in Cambodia, you can imagine the overall impact. It’s one of the biggest challenges for public health in the country today.

Emmanuel Lavieuville, MSF’s Head of Mission for Cambodia, where a small MSF team is working hard to improve comprehensive tuberculosis (TB) care in the provincial hospital and fill gaps in a national system that is struggling to adequately manage the region’s high TB burden.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Posted on 24 March, 2011