Launched August 9, 2010
Tuberculosis is a disease both preventable and curable. Nevertheless, it is estimated that more than 4,500 people across the globe die from the disease every day, with the numbers disproportionately high in the developing world. Multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) strains of the disease, which are more difficult and expensive to treat, represent a huge threat moving forward as they can have mortality rates above 50 percent. Moldova has one of the highest rates of MDR-TB in the world.
It is estimated that one out of every ten patients in Moldova defaults on his TB treatment and that nearly 44 percent of all cases of TB in the country are multidrug-resistant. This development is largely due to the deterioration of the country's health infrastructure after the break-up of the Soviet Union. The country's Ministry of Health estimates that the number of people dying from TB has quadrupled since 1994. In spite of these numbers, the problem is still not being adequately addressed.
Moldova's TB incidence rate is now 15 times higher than its more developed neighbors in Western Europe; this is a tragic case study in the disease's ability to overtake a country's fledgling health care system, and of how a population can literally begin to die when it is not protected from this entirely treatable disease. What Moldova is currently going through represents the threat that all countries could face if the fight against TB is not successful.
Updated August 26, 2010.
Grantee
David Rochkind (b.1980), formerly based in Mexico City, has covered issues ranging from human smuggling along the US-Mexico border to the impact of tuberculosis on communities across the world. His...
Region
Country
Topics
Photojournalist David Rochkind moderates discussion on World TB Day.
Global health journalism is not an easy sell in today's media market. The Pulitzer Center is working to change that thinking.
Photojournalist David Rochkind will discuss his photography and the global tuberculosis crisis at Brandeis University.
Pulitzer Center photojournalist David Rochkind will share his thoughts on the TB epidemic at a panel discussion "Why Global Health Matters," a part of the Global Health in Focus exhibition.
David Rochkind's photographs of the TB epidemic in Moldova, India and South Africa will be displayed at Global Health in Focus, an exhibition co-sponsored by Pulitzer Center and Boston University.
EPIDEMIC: TB in the Global Community is a photography exhibit that shows how tuberculosis affects people’s lives.
Join us at "Dimensions of Diversity," the annual NCSS conference in Washington, DC on December 2 and 3.
Washington area students--from three-year olds to university undergrads--learned about critical global issues from Pulitzer Center photojournalists.
Chicago students explored the myriad contributing factors to the global tuberculosis epidemic in early November, looking at overcrowding, migration, underfunded health systems, and social stigmas.
Seven photojournalists discuss the unparalleled ways they approach documenting stories of crisis during a FotoWeek DC panel at George Washington University.
Seven photojournalists discuss the unparalleled ways they approach documenting stories of crisis during a FotoWeek DC panel at George Washington University.
September 14, 2010 /
Untold Stories
At 44% of all tuberculosis cases in the country, Moldova has the highest rate of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis anywhere on the planet.
Global health journalism is not an easy sell in today's media market. The Pulitzer Center is working to change that thinking.
Washington area students--from three-year olds to university undergrads--learned about critical global issues from Pulitzer Center photojournalists.
Chicago students explored the myriad contributing factors to the global tuberculosis epidemic in early November, looking at overcrowding, migration, underfunded health systems, and social stigmas.
The College of William & Mary Reves Center for International Studies highlights a recent visit from Pulitzer Center grantees and former Pulitzer Center intern, Shannon Beydler.
TB killed 1.7 million individuals in 2009. Are we treating one of the world’s deadliest diseases with the equivalent of “muskets and sticks?
Moldova has one of the highest rates of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) anywhere in the world. The country's hospitals lack funding and resources to prevent the spread of this deadly...
Washington area students--from three-year olds to university undergrads--learned about critical global issues from Pulitzer Center photojournalists.
Chicago students explored the myriad contributing factors to the global tuberculosis epidemic in early November, looking at overcrowding, migration, underfunded health systems, and social stigmas.
How do you move an audience from passive viewership to engagement? David Rochkind discusses his educational portal on the Tuberculosis epidemic.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Moldova's health system has struggled to cope and the country became vulnerable to a growing tuberculosis (TB) crisis.