Saturday, March 24 was international Tuberculosis day. In 2010,
8.8 million people fell ill with TB and 1.4 million died from
TB. It is the second largest global killer after HIV/AIDS. TB is
global disease, but rates of infection and death are much higher
in poor, crowded countries. South Asia has among the highest
rates of TB in the world, and last year I had the opportunity to
see how the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria was
supporting TB programs in Bangladesh. I created this video and
wrote this post last March 24 that discusses Bangladesh’s Global
Fund-financed projects for TB control in hard-to-reach rural
communities. Anowara Upazilla, Bangladesh - Compared to HIV/AIDS
and Malaria, TB is by far the most prevalent infectious disease
in Bangladesh. There are an estimated 426 infections per 100,000
people among a population of 148 million. An estimated 65,000
people died from TB infections last year alone. That is bad. But
a TB diagnosis these days is not necessarily a death sentence.
In 2003, Th