Education against tuberculosis
It’s another day in the field for 34-year old Jasmina. She enters a long and narrow hallway on the ground floor of old building. As she steps further into darkness, sunlight from her back diminishing, she can still see that the hallway is covered in litter and remains from old home-appliances. She knocks on the last door on the right and is soon let into a humble, but warm room. After the initial chit-chat with the mother of the family, Jasmina takes out her ‘boards’ from her bag and starts her presentation.
Jasmina is here to inform this Roma family about the dangers of tuberculosis and modes of its prevention, as part of World Vision’s support of the national programs Strengthening Directly Observed Therapy Short-Course (DOTS) strategy and Tuberculosis Plan. This strengthening is done through implementation of project “Improving Tuberculosis Control in Roma and Other Vulnerable Population” by the provision of training to health professionals, improving the access to vulnerable groups by engaging patronage nurses/technicians and increasing the capacities of Tuberculosis laboratories. This project builds on community-based TB care model by organizing outreach services and engaging 4 community-based TB Roma Regional Centres, 16 outreach workers and 76 polivalent patronage nurses in TB prevention services, and it brings diagnostics and treatment closer to Roma. Roma are one of the most vulnerable minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Tuberculosis exists here and it is still taboo topic,” says Jasmina, who works in three municipalities and is responsible for more than 1,000 people. “There are people suffering from Tuberculosis who are hiding it.” Bearing in mind that tuberculosis is a contagious, bacterial infection of the lungs that can spread to other organs, as well that it is the second biggest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent, it is important to break the taboo and treat people on time.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) more than one million people died from Tuberculosis in 2011. Tuberculosis is connected with poverty and bad living conditions, often attacking those most vulnerable and marginalized.
When 18-year old Kemal got sick, he didn’t know anything about the disease. And, as with many other Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he too was without health insurance. His family was informed that they would need to pay around US $115 per day for Kemal’s treatment in hospital for the duration of more than two months. For a family living on the minimum, there was no way they could come up with this amount.
“I didn’t know whom to turn and what to do,” remembers Kemal’s mother Halima. World Vision learned about this situation through the Roma Association it cooperates with, immediately got involved and Kemal was accommodated in hospital.
“If there wasn’t for good people, I don’t know what would have become of us…” says Halima.
Unfortunately, two months after Kemal’s hospitalization, his older brother, 23-year old Elvedin, started sweating heavily and coughing. Halima immediately knew that he also suffered from Tuberculosis. “I have never heard for Tuberculosis before,” says Elvedin. This time, Halima knew whom to turn to - World Vision. “I turned to them for good and for bad,” she explains. Besides making sure that both Halima’s sons were hospitalized, during their treatment World Vision also provided eight packages with food and hygienic supplies to the family.
More than a year later, both Kemal and Elvedin are healthy and going on with their lives. Fortunately, no one else from the family was infected with the disease.
Official statistics for Bosnia and Herzegovina show that in 2010, there were 50 new cases of Tuberculosis per 100,000 inhabitants. The total population of the country is around 3.8 million and that makes for staggering numbers.
With the hard work of Jasmina and other field workers, World Vision hopes to decrease this number and provide better health standards for families and their children.