Who we help

 

Target TB aims to help people both directly and indirectly affected by TB. As it is an infectious disease close family and friends of a person with active TB can be at risk of infection if they remain untreated.

But TB can have a much more wide ranging impact on the welfare of people affected. Loss of income due to ill health from TB can push whole families into poverty. With high levels of stigma surrounding TB many people lose jobs if they are found to have TB, marriages split up due to TB, and people known to be affected can be extremely marginalised by their communities.

TB is closely linked to HIV. Many of our projects carry out integrated TB and HIV programmes to ensure the needs of people are met. People who are HIV positive are 50 times more likely to get TB in a given year than a person without HIV. They are therefore a high risk group in areas with high TB burdens. Target TB and our partners are working to ensure all groups of people at risk of TB are helped to prevent the spread of infection.

Below are case-studies of some of the people who Target TB and its partners have helped.

Mr Bose

Mr Bose aged 45 is a cured TB patient from Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

Mr Bose was working as an electrician in a textile mill when he became ill. His wife was scared by his illness and left him to return to her parents. Mr Bose had to leave work due to the severity of his illness and with no one to look after him returned to the village where he grew up to stay with his sister. At this stage he was bedridden and weighed just 45kg.

One of Target TB’s partner organisations, Network Theni, had TB community health volunteers working in the area. They came to hear about Mr Bose and visited him at his sister’s home. They referred him to the nearest Primary Health Centre where he was tested for TB and found to be positive for the infection. He was immediately started on treatment and is responding well.

His sister and her children all received prophylaxis treatment for TB because they may have been exposed to the infection before Mr Bose was started on treatment. The prophylaxis treatment will prevent any of them from becoming infected.

Ruth 

Ruth is 38 years old and is a cured TB patient from Zambia.

A TB treatment supporter from Target TB’s partner Zatulet, based in Kalingalinga, heard that Ruth was ill through her mother. He went to visit her and found that she had TB symptoms. She was immediately referred for testing and found to have pulmonary TB. After 8 months of treatment she was successfully cured.

Ruth became interested in becoming a TB treatment supporter herself because of the support she’d received from Zatulet throughout her treatment. She has now completed the 2 weeks training with Zatulet and currently supports 4 TB patients in the local community, helping them adhere to TB treatment and providing motivational and practical support. Ruth is also part of the drama group which performs sketches to educate people about TB and HIV.

Christine 

Christine is 42 years old and lives in Mkushi district, Zambia. She is openly HIV positive and is a client of Target TB’s partner Bwafwano.

Christine underwent Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) to find out her HIV status in 2007 having heard a radio campaign about HIV/Aids. Although she wasn’t very ill at the time she had some headaches and thought it best to go for a test. Her test indicated that she was HIV positive. Not long after this Christine became more ill and ultimately bedridden. Her husband ran away when Christine became so ill.

Christine is now on anti-retrovirals and is already feeling much stronger. However without any source of income, and having been marginalised in the community by people who had seen she was ill, Christine was still in a very vulnerable situation. She had seen local community volunteers from Bwafwano pass by her home and asked them if they could help her. Christine was matched to a local volunteer caregiver who now visits her frequently to monitor her health and welfare. Christine is receiving nutritional support from Bwafwano and has also become a member of the local support group where she can share experiences with other people and discuss ways of living positively.