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Apr 12, 2007

"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something." --Sandra Day O'Connor

Bangladeshi Housewives Overcome TB

Mohammed Salim Sheikh crosses the threshold of a village home. The housewife inside, Zahida Khatun Jharna, rises from her cooking fire, fetches his medication, fills his water glass, ticks off his chart for the day and sends him home. This routine plays out in countless villages across Bangladesh, representing a remarkably simple but effective national tuberculosis treatment program to overcome the stubborn scourge that kills 1.6 million people worldwide each year. A total of nearly 70,000 women across the country conduct daily household surveys in their neighborhoods, search for patients like Mr. Sheikh who have been coughing for more than three weeks -- coax them to get tested and, most important, administer a long and rigorous treatment. Surveys show that 80 percent of tuberculosis patients in Bangladesh now receive treatment from such community-based approaches.