Drug-resistant TB: Blog Posts

Photo Essay: Linking Ugandan Communities to Tuberculosis Care

April 29, 2015
[A multidrug-resistant TB patient from Kitgum, Uganda. He lost his job because of his illness.] {Photo credit: Diana Tumuhairwe/MSH}

Health workers throughout the developing world provide vital services and improve the lives of the people they serve, and yet they are often invisible. These men and women conduct community outreach, provide key prevention messages in the community, and deliver clinical care, treatment, and follow-up. In Uganda, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) TRACK TB project, led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), supports 52 community linkage facilitators to help increase tuberculosis (TB) case detection and treatment success rates.

First Conference on Pharmaceutical Management for TB and M/XDR-TB for the WHO European Region Emphasizes Access to Medicines, Rational Use

March 27, 2014
[(left to right) Dr. Raed Arafat, Chair of the Conference, Secretary of State, Ministry of Health of Romania; Dr. Martin van den Boom, TB Program Focal Officer, WHO Regional Office for Europe; Francis (Kofi) Aboagye-Nyame, Director, SIAPS Program; and Dr. Joel Keravec, Head of Operations, Global Drug Facility, Stop TB Partnership, at the First Conference on Pharmaceutical Management for TB and M/XDR-TB for the WHO European Region.] {Photo credit: Durmuş Şahin}

The highest rate of multi-drug resistant (M) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) cases of tuberculosis (TB) is found in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. The Consolidated Action Plan to Prevent and Combat M/XDR-TB in the WHO European Region specifies that, by the end of 2013, all member states assure provision of an interrupted supply of quality first- and second-line medicines for treatment of all TB and M/XDR-TB patients.

Pledge Continuous Funding for The Global Fund, Says XDR-TB Survivor and Advocate

December 02, 2013
[Mildred Fernando shares her story of surviving XDR-TB at a symposium in Japan.]

I never thought that being sick with tuberculosis (TB) for a decade would lead me to this purpose: being an advocate to fight and eliminate this disease--not just in my country, the Philippines, but all over the world. I was recently invited by RESULTS Japan to represent TB patients' perspectives in the call for continuous funding from the Japanese government to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). The advocacy activities, led by Results Japan, were in support to the Global Fund Fourth Replenishment which aims to secure financing for the years 2014-2016.

Surviving XDR-TB

April 02, 2013
Mildred shares her story of surviving XDR-TB at an event honoring "TB Champions" in DC; Ambassador Goosby listens. {Photo: E. Delmotte/MSH.}

Mildred Fernando lives and works in the Philippines for the USAID-funded, MSH-led, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program. Mildred spoke at several World TB Day events in Washington, DC, including at a senate briefing and an event honoring TB survivors and advocates (watch video). The interview below first appeared on the SIAPS blog.It all began in November 2001 for Mildred Fernando when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), a preventable and curable disease which caused the death of 1.4 million people in 2011.

Streamlining and Collaborating on Diagnostic Financing and Drug Utilization Reviews Decreases Burden of Drug-Resistant TB

March 27, 2013
Patients wait in a well-ventilated area outside the TB clinic in Homa Bay, Kenya. {Photo credit: A. Kwiecien and A. Salakaia / MSH.}

The state of tuberculosis (TB) is in a tug-of-war as current challenges threaten to undo past successes. One of the primary hurdles currently facing TB prevention and cure is the emergence of strains that are resistant to at least two of the most effective medicines (rifampicin and isoniazid).So-called drug-resistant (DR)-TB arises when patients are unable to complete a full-course of appropriate, high quality anti-TB medicines.

Voices of TB: Learning from Tuberculosis Survivors

March 29, 2012
Voices of TB participants (from left): David Rochkind (moderator); Rachel Urduno (Mexico/Texas); Andre Gariseb (Namibia); Pham Thu Hoa (Vietnam); Francis Apina (Kenya); Rosalie and Faith Stephson (Philippines/Texas); Endalkachew Fekadu Demmisse (Ethiopia). {Photo credit: Claire Moodie/MSH.}

Cross-posted on TB-CARE I.World TB Day, March 24th, was commemorated in many countries around the world last week to acknowledge the accomplishments made in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), and to call attention to the work that still needs to be done.Voices of TB, a unique event organized by USAID, featured former TB patients speaking about their personal fight against TB.

A face of TB: Mildred Fernando

November 15, 2011

The images of tuberculosis patients from the developing world are often painful to look at: the outlines of rib cages taut against skin; arms and legs no thicker than wiffleball bats; a wild-eyed look of fear from sunken eyes. But the image of Mildred Fernando, captured here by photographer Riccardo Venturi, turns heads toward her.