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Tuberculosis
Prevention and Control
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"Every morning at a village clinic we are met by hundreds
of people crowding in to be seen by a doctor. Amidst innumerable
runny noses, aching backs, and high blood pressure concerns,
one villager coughs incessantly, not always remembering to cover
his face as he does so. As we screen him, he answers yes to
too many questions: Have you been losing weight? Do you cough
up blood? Do you wake up in the night sweating? This tuberculosis
patient may have already been treated once. He may be resistant
to the drugs available to him, and due to lack of health education
and proper care, he may still be spreading TB to his family
and fellow villagers." |
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—Field intern, 2000
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Problem: Tuberculosis is prevalent in the TAR. Based on
1990 data from the Chinese Ministry of Health, TB prevalence
in Chamdo Prefecture alone was 1,023 per 100,000. Due to limited
resources, the Chamdo Prefecture TB Hospital is only able to
treat approximately 200 pulmonary patients per year. |
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What Terma has done to address the problem: To address
this issue, Terma has designed a five-year prevention and control
plan for TB, first to be piloted in Chamdo Prefecture and ultimately
to be implemented in other regions of Tibet. In collaboration
with the TAR Regional Public Health Bureau and the Anti-Epidemic
Station in Chamdo, Terma will provide the health worker training,
medical equipment and supplies needed to support a successful
TB eradication program. The eradication of tuberculosis is a
very immediate global concern, as current TB treatment practices
in this escalating endemic area are creating fatal multidrug-resistant
strains of TB. |
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Terma completed distribution of eleven portable
x-ray machines to each of the eleven counties in Chamdo Prefecture
and sponsored two training seminars in their usage. Terma now
supports TB trainings throughout the hospital system by doctors
at Prefecture levels to doctors at county and community levels.
Seventy Chamdo county level doctors received formal medical
training in TB under our auspices in six months. Topics included
biotechnology and electrical principles associated with radiology,
drug pharmacology, clinical diagnoses, patient follow-up, routes
of transmission, and global epidemiology.
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