IFHAD team member examines MDR/XDR-TB color diagnostic plate.
BRINGING DOWN TB IN PERU
It’s not easy to eliminate tuberculosis in the pueblos jóvenes (shantytowns) that surround Lima, Peru. Residents often struggle to survive economically, so taking TB meds for at least six months is especially difficult. But Carlton A. Evans, MD, PhD, an International Health associate, and colleagues at Innovation For Health and Development (IFHAD) have demonstrated an inexpensive, effective way to help. Health workers who are TB survivors themselves and small financial help vastly increase treatment success. Now, the project faces a new challenge: replacing funds cut when the UK restructured its foreign support strategy.
TOP: From left: IFHAD team members Pilar Raquel Tapia Mamani, María del Rosario Montoya Villanueva, and Sumona Datta, MD, PhD, walk into one of the communities of Ventanilla on March 31, 2023. INSET: IFHAD’s Keren Soledad Alvarado Torres examines an inexpensive MDR/XDR-TB color test diagnostic plate that the IFHAD team invented.
Photos: Eduardo R. Isla Hernández.