©InfoThe stigma in Jelena Sorokina’s community is so large that even her son does not like her working with people who have TB patients. “People are afraid they might lose their jobs or their relatives might alienate them if they find out they have TB. They are afraid to be open about the disease,” she says.
Jelena, a qualified doctor, has been working as a Red Crescent nurse in Kara Balta for seven years. The slogan on her Red Crescent bib reads: ‘All against TB’. Jelena is helping those in her community with TB to overcome not only the disease but the stigma associated with it.
Discrimination associated with TB is one of the greatest barriers to preventing further infections, and providing adequate support and treatment. TB-related stigma is triggered by many forces, including lack of understanding of the disease, myths about how TB is transmitted, prejudice, lack of access to diagnosis and treatment, irresponsible media reporting, the link between HIV and TB, and fears relating to illness and death.
Overcoming TB
Jelena recalls one man who was terrified that his mother-in-law would find out he had TB and make her daughter divorce him. He made Jelena promise never to go to his house but to meet at another location, in case he was discovered.
“Some people are so scared of the stigma that when they are able to go back to work they lie about why they were off sick,” says Jelena. “I have even heard of those who are more comfortable saying they had syphilis than TB!”
The most moving case that Jelena remembers is a 76-year-old woman who was diagnosed with TB and hospitalised for one month. “She was so distraught that she had contracted TB she was planning to kill herself by throwing herself over the hospital balcony,” says Jelena. “The only reason she did not is because it was never empty. She was profoundly depressed when I began to visit her. Helping her overcome TB and understand that she had not done anything wrong to catch it is one of the most satisfying experiences I can remember.”
More about TB in Kyrgyzstan