Tuberculosis is easily cured, but not without consistent treatment. Community health workers monitoring daily dosages can mean the difference between life and death for both patients and communities.
One Moldovan family's story illustrates how lack of education and migration present public health obstacles to improving TB treatment in the country.
Disintegrating healthcare infrastructure in Moldova since the fall of the Soviet Union has led to fewer and smaller hospitals as the number of TB patients grows.
Low income women with few other means of supporting themselves or their families are most vulnerable to selling into the dangerous human egg trade.
Poor health infrastucture and large migrant population in Moldova contribute to the development of deadly new strains of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), a disease which, with proper healthcare, is entirely treatable.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that kills nearly 2 million people every year, yet most people outside of the developing world know very little about it.
NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo | No one seems to care about the gypsies.
Displaced by conflict and stranded by bureaucratic inertia, dozens of gypsy families remain on toxic land 10 years after they were relocated there by the United Nations after the Kosovo war.
Lead blackens the children's teeth, blanks out memories and stunts growth. Other symptoms of lead poisoning include aggressive behavior, nervousness, dizziness, vomiting and high fever. The children swing between bursts of nervous hyperactivity and fainting spells. Some have epileptic fits.
In 1999 following the NATO led bombing in the Kosovo region, the United Nations built resettlement camps for one of the wars overlooked people, the Roma. Two of these camps were built next to a toxic slagheap of 100 million tons of lead runoff. The hurriedly constructed barracks were also built with old painted lead boards. Today, ten years later, the people of Chesmin Lug and Osterrode camps continue to struggle with life and health.
Unless otherwise noted, photos and text credited to: Darren McCollester / Pulitzer Center
NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo — Displaced by conflict and stranded by bureaucratic inertia, dozens of Roma families remain on toxic land 10 years after they were relocated there by the United Nations following the Kosovo war.
J. Malcolm Garcia, for the Pulitzer Center. Photo by Darren McCollester
Report and photo by Darren McCollester, for the Pulitzer Center
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