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An email from TED brings news of a campaign to wipe out XDR-TB, a new and deadly form of tuberculosis that is threatening to become a global pandemic. This is an extremely drug resistant strain of a disease that in 2007 alone killed 1.7 million people: 4,660 deaths a day.
“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”
We are asked to Share, Sign and Support the project, to join voices with others who are working to eradicate this disease.
The photographs were taken by James Nachtwey, winner of the 2008 TED prize, where companies, organisations and individuals collaborate to work on alleviating and possibly resolving an issue. His TED wish is for help in solving this issue.
"Referred to by some TB experts as “Ebola on steroids,” extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) is resistant to first- and second-line TB drugs. One infected person who laughs, coughs, or sings, can result in its transmission.
Since its first reporting in 2006, XDR-TB has been confirmed in 49 countries, including all G8 member states — and that may just be the tip of the iceberg, as few countries in Africa have the laboratory capacity to even detect XDR-TB, let alone track and treat it.
The drugs to treat a standard TB case cost only $20 (just over €14) per patient in the developing world, and are almost always completely effective in curing a person of the disease when taken properly, even among people living with HIV.
TB is the leading killer of people with HIV: 90% of those living with HIV die within months of contracting TB. XDR-TB and MDR-TB, the drug-resistant strains of TB, are much more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to cure."
Visit http://xdrtb.org to see how you can make a difference. There's a factsheet here(pdf) with more statistics and valuable information. A simple click could make a difference to those with the TB, or those with a latent TB infection - one-third of the world’s population.
Any of the things I write on this blog are my own opinions and should be treated as such. They are neither a reflection on or the opinion of the companies that I work with. I also do not write posts that have been paid for or requested by employers.
Given all that though, I still hope you enjoy them :)
