World TB Day 2017: "My fight isn't over"
Elizabeth Wangeci's story is a remarkable one. Against the odds, Elizabeth, from Nairobi, was the first person to survive one of the deadliest forms of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kenya.
In this episode of our Everyday Emergency podcast, on World TB Day 2017 we speak to Elizabeth nearly one year after being cured.
We also hear from Mark Sherlock, an MSF TB doctor who works not far from Elizabeth in Nairobi.
MSF and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable, treatable bacterial disease. However, many people do not have access to vaccination or appropriate treatment, meaning TB remains one of the most deadly contagious diseases in the world.
Alarmingly drug-resistant strains of the disease have emerged, which cannot be treated with the “first line” antibiotics usually used to cure tuberculosis. Some of these strains are multi-drug-resistant or extensively drug-resistant, leaving patients with very limited treatment options.
In 2019, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) started 18,800 people on TB treatment, including 2,000 with drug-resistant TB.