Untreated tuberculosis kills nearly half of its victims in five years. The other half is left to suffer disabling symptoms, spreading the disease to as many as fifteen more people every year. Loved ones in the family are often the first to be infected.

Mrs. Yakeen lay on the floor of her village house last August, coughing day and night. She was too weak to walk, after tuberculosis spent five years consuming her body. In 2018, SEEDS health workers had helped Mrs. Yakeen obtain and start daily tuberculosis medication. If she had taken it for a certain number of months, she could have recovered. Sadly, Mrs. Yakeen complained of an upset stomach, and consulted a local sorcerer. He gave her a potion that made her throw up, declared her free of tuberculosis, and told her to stop the medication.

Without further treatment, Mrs. Yakeen grew sicker and thinner each year. Finally, she could not breathe. A sorcerer came to the house, but could not help. Her husband, in desperation, took her to an emergency room in the city. There, Mrs. Yakeen finally decided to resume the tuberculosis treatment that she had discontinued five years before.

SEEDS has helped to establish a tuberculosis bridge program designed for patients like Mrs. Yakeen. The program, called Jembatan TBC Kampar, now provides Mrs. Yakeen with transportation to healthcare facilities; training from an advisor she can trust; encouragement and accountability to maintain her course of treatment; and tracking of the illness to find and treat hidden cases in her community.

Jembatan TBC Kampar is currently screening Mrs. Yakeen’s family and neighbors for symptoms of tuberculosis. Eight-year-old Neeyat, her grandson, is unusually thin; he has coughed for months, and grew up in her home. Program workers transported him to government health facilities for testing and x-rays, and he was diagnosed. He has tuberculosis.

SEEDS and Jembatan TBC Kampar continue to bridge obstacles to overcoming tuberculosis in five areas: transportation, treatment, tracking, training, and trust. Meanwhile, Neeyat and his grandmother take their daily medicine to cure in a few months a disease that would claim their lives in only a few years.