Amina already had HIV, for which she was receiving antiretroviral treatment, when she contracted TB. No one referred her to be tested for TB until, months after she became ill, workers from the health organization PASADA discovered her condition and carried her to a clinic.
The spread of drug-resistant TB is increasing at alarming rates, especially in areas with high levels of HIV infection. OSI’s Public Health Watch is working on advocacy efforts that link TB and HIV/AIDS programs in the struggle to contain and reverse the twin epidemics. Such programs include novel approaches in southern Africa that train local villagers to become community health workers, and raise awareness of treatment options for people infected with drug-resistant TB and HIV.
The photographs in this slideshow were taken in Tanzania for OSI as part of an advocacy campaign to highlight community-based health care in action.
They Go to Die: An Interview with Jonathan Smith Brett Davidson February 1, 2012 BLOG
Epidemiologist Jonathan Smith is working on a documentary film about the lives of four mineworkers who were dismissed from their jobs and sent home after contracting tuberculosis in the South African gold mines.
Why We Shouldn't Rely on Patents to Encourage Medical Innovation Paul Silva January 23, 2012 BLOG
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Els Torreele of the Open Society Foundations argues against proposals to extend patents on pharmaceuticals, stating that such a move would solidify a broken innovation model that primarily serves the financial interest of the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of patients worldwide.
Why Are World Leaders Turning Their Backs on Africa? Stephen Lewis January 17, 2012 BLOG
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has saved and prolonged millions of lives. Yet at this precise moment when the global community should be doing all it can to support the Fund, it is under the most serious assault it has endured in its ten-year history.
Multimedia
