Tackling tuberculosis in southern Mexico

“TB has never been taken seriously enough by donors or the global health community writ large, it has just been languishing out there,” says Donna Barry, Partners In Health’s Director of Advocacy and Policy, in a recent article published in The Lancet.

In Chiapas, Mexico, efforts to combat tuberculosis are impeded by lack of access to health care, as well as a lack of education, transportation, food, adequate housing, and many other factors associated with poverty. The rate of new patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Chiapas is 14 percent, far higher than in most regions of the world.

A lack of medical resources throughout the region also hurts efforts. “There is not enough active case finding, a lack of political will, the supply of drugs is unreliable, and there is limited lab capacity,” said Daniel Palazuelos, a doctor from Harvard Medical School and Partners In Health, who has extensive experience in the Chiapas region.

Read the full article from The Lancet on MDR-TB in Chiapas, and about efforts being put in place to address those problems.

PIH has worked closely with El Equipo de Apoyo en Salud y Educación Comunitaria (EAPSEC, The Team for the Support of Community Health and Education) in Chiapas since 1989. Read more about this partnership.