Guardian highlights Nepal’s fight against TB

The Guardian has published an article on how COMDIS partner Health Research and Social Development Forum (HERD) is contributing to Nepal’s fight against tuberculosis (TB).

The Guardian follows HERD health educator Jeevraj Adhikari as he visits one of the most impoverished areas in the capital Kathmandu. On this day Jeevraj spoke to a group of women and children living in a slum along Nepal’s Manahara River about tuberculosis (TB) and other illnesses.

The women he spoke to already knew the basics of TB prevention and treatment, demonstrating the success of strategies adopted to tackle the airborne infectious disease through education. Slums such as this one tend to be congested, with a high chance of the disease spreading. Education plays an important role in arming people with the knowledge of how to avoid contracting TB and to prevent it from spreading.

The Guardian article also revealed that 90% of TB cases in Nepal are now being cured, compared with about 45% in the 1990s. It went on to explain that there are now over 4,000 TB health facilities in Nepal, a marked increase from the estimated 200 facilities 20 years ago.

However, the report emphasised that there is still a cause for concern. Around 40,000 people contract TB each year, about the same as 15 years ago and there are no isolation wards in Nepal for people with multiple-drug resistant (MDR) TB and extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB to go to. This can result in further spread of the disease to the public.

The Nepalese government does not have the facilities and funds to isolate all MDR and XDR patients, a crucial step in halting the spread of these types of TB. However, next year it plans to use money from The Global Fund to rent or build 10 hostels that will house MDR and XDR patients.

To read the story, click here.