Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of poverty, affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years. More than one third of the world’s total population is infected with TB bacilli, the microbes that cause TB. More than half the TB deaths occur in Asia.
Cambodia is among top 22 high burden countries in the world.
Hav Kong lives with 14 other family members in a small house. His wife suffers as he struggles with multiple diseases.
Abandoned by wife, without job, Din Khain, 43, and his two children are fed by their neighbours.
Long Chamreun, 31, after losing his job, reflects on how to continue supporting his family of five.
No school, no money; Motherly love is the only constant in Thorn Rothana's life.
He is six years old.
Malnourished, Siem Men was diagnosed with New Sputum Positive in June 2011 and has been in hospital since then. She is 74 years old.
Head bowed in prayer, faith is all that is left in Sien Men and her daughter's life.
So Mon's husband died of TB. And, now she is a victim of the same disease.
Away from family -fighting despair and loneliness -Neang Savoeun is suffering from Extra-Pulmonary TB.
Kama, 65, is a retired Policeman. He is determined to win his fight against TB.
Do Mama, 5, lost her mother when she was 3 months old. She now stays with her father, a rag-picker, who sometimes even fails to feed her.
Seen the worst at this early age, Do Mama still manages to have some mischief around.
Suffering from multiple diseases, supported by her family, Sok Mi, 68, wonders how long she will survive. Her husband has already been treated for TB.
Chan Sokhan, a widow and a rag picker, has been taking her medication regularly and is already on a road to recovery. She never lost hope.
Such dilapidated conditions result in rag-pickers (who earn less than a dollar a day) getting affected by TB.
During my interaction with those who are affected, I was moved to see the toll this disease has taken on the lives of these people.
It is disheartening to see the condition of the people who are affected with this killer disease. In this reportage, I have tried to capture many emotions of these patients; most important of them is the visible HOPE (ASHA) in the eyes of these unfortunate souls.
