Tuberculosis

Community volunteers are front-line heroes in the fight against TB in the community. Daw Nu Nyie is a community volunteer trained by Medical Action Myanmar in Myitkyina, Kachin State.

Myitkyina, capital city of Kachin State in northern Myanmar, is one of the townships with the highest TB burden in the country. Widespread drug use and the associated high prevalence of HIV infection worsen the situation.

In 2018, Medical Action Myanmar (MAM) started to implement community-based TB care activities in Myitkyina Township. When MAM came searching for community volunteers, Daw Nu Nyie, 53 years old, wholeheartedly came forward.

She received training from MAM, to find presumptive TB patients and refer them to the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) for diagnosis and treatment, to administer treatment in her community, and to conduct family contact tracing. Since then she has become one of the most active front-line volunteers in the fight against TB.

Daw Nu Nyie has been living in Pan Ma Ti ward for many years and is well known far outside of her ward. She knows too well the challenges of villagers, who often have social burdens and limited access to get correct and complete treatment for TB. 

In 2019, Daw Nu Nyie referred to NTP a total of 205 presumptive TB patients from her ward and also from many nearby villages. She accompanied patients to NTP to help them complete the diagnosis and receive treatment in the same day. Of them, 51 had a confirmed diagnosis and were treated for TB. She provided DOT to those confirmed TB patients and conducted family contact tracing. At the end of 2019, 26 TB patients had successfully completed treatment.

She also screened a total of 104 family members of patients for TB symptoms and found six additional presumptive TB patients and referred them to NTP. Due to her frequent visits to NTP for TB referrals and patient follow-up, she eventually became friends with NTP staff, which in turn has helped improve information sharing on patients’ treatment compliance.

Today, Daw Nu Nyie remains a treatment adherence champion, administering DOT and motivating those in her community with TB symptoms to get tested.