Support women and families facing tuberculosis

Educating women, their families, and communities on how to care for and support people living with tuberculosis.

Why we care: Vietnam has one of the world’s highest rates of tuberculosis, but the disease is treatable and preventable. In Vietnam, 91,500 people fell ill with the disease in 2011 and 30,000 died.

How we’re solving this: PATH is piloting a community-based education project in three provinces--Ba Ria Vung Tay, Binh Dinh, and Hanoi--to train volunteers to provide tuberculosis patients and their families with information on the side effects of treatment and how they can reduce the risk of infection in their homes.

Women living with tuberculosis or caring for people with the disease are an important focus of the project. As the primary cooks in their households, women need the knowledge and skills to provide appropriate nutrition for ill family members as well as for themselves. Your support will help us educate these caregivers on providing proper nutrition to decrease tuberculosis’ side effects, such as weight loss or nausea, and increase patients’ chances for recovery. 

Our outreach also focuses on reproductive health and family planning for women of child-bearing age. Tuberculosis can adversely affect women’s reproductive health systems, causing irregular menstruation, pregnancy-related complications, and, in some cases, infertility. We will teach women how to recognize these signs and provide them with basic information about reproductive health and family planning. Our volunteers--from community health centers, the Vietnamese Women’s Union, and the local Red Cross Society--will provide counseling and information on available birth control methods, making sure women understand the side effects and benefits to each option and where they can access these options in their community.