Karachi

In an effort to create awareness about tuberculosis (TB) and to promote an environment supportive to people affected by the disease, the Indus Hospital announced on Saturday the inauguration of Tasweer-e-Zindagi, a three-day exhibition showcasing compelling photographs taken by TB patients, their families and TB treatment supporters to draw the attention of all concerned to their experiences and depict life through their eyes.

Aimed at providing TB patients with an effective platform to highlight the challenges faced by them in their day-to-day lives, the exhibition featured a gallery of more than 60 photographs and stories that presented an eye-opening representation of their struggle to combat and overcome their disease.

With participation from local health officials, healthcare providers, NGO representatives and the core team of the Tasweer-e-Zindagi project, the inaugural ceremony was addressed by Dr Ejaz Qadeer, Programme Manager of the National TB Control Programme, and Dr Naseem Salahuddin, Professor and Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Indus Hospital.

Stressing the need to disseminate accurate information about tuberculosis among healthcare practitioners, TB patients and the general population at large, Dr Salahuddin appealed to key stakeholders in health care to recognise their due responsibility to offset the negative impact of the disease through initiatives geared towards providing support to TB patients. “We need to create a supportive environment in the country where people affected by tuberculosis are empowered and not stigmatised.

It’s essential that practitioners remember that TB not only affects patients physically, but also emotionally, socially, and financially. It also captures the impact on young women who are most vulnerable due to their poor health and nutritional status, and their inability to obtain medical care independently,” she said.

Sharing her insights on the occasion, Project Director Tasweer-e-Zindagi Shama Mohammad said that despite the availability of government-provided testing and treatment, thousands of people in Pakistan died each year from tuberculosis, with an estimated 60,000 deaths in the year 2010 alone from the disease, despite free testing and treatment available to the public.

“Pakistan ranks eighth amongst countries with the highest burden of TB globally. TB is also plagued by a great deal of misinformation and stigma in Pakistan, which is why we feel that it is important to work with people directly affected by TB to understand the challenges and barriers that they face,” she added.
the news
—————
Exhibition on TB awareness held

By Asad Farooq

KARACHI: The Indus Hospital on Saturday organised a photographic exhibition entitled ‘Tasweer-e-Zindagi’ that featured the photographs of 55 tuberculosis (TB) survivors, their family members and anti-TB activists, depicting their feelings and experiences.

Manager National TB Control Programme Dr Ejaz Qadeer, Indus Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases Head Prof Dr Naseem Salahuddin and other speakers while addressing the inaugural ceremony, shed light over the causes of the disease. It was informed in the exhibition that Pakistan stood 8th in global TB ranking. As per a conservative estimate, around 60,000 people fell pray to TB in the country last year, the speakers informed.

Indus Hospital TB Programme Site Manager Dr Salman urged the participants to spend five minutes a day for spreading awareness, counseling or any other welfare activity that could help reduce the rate of disease in the society.

Rizwan Ansari, a student of Intermediate who completed his TB treatment two months ago while talking to Daily Times opined that children were more vulnerable to the deteriorating sanitary conditions of residential areas. He urged the TB patients not to afraid of their illness, adding that he became depressed, when diagnosed with TB. “However my parents and doctors supported me through the course of treatment”, Ansari added.

Tasweer-e-Zindagi Project Director Shama Mohammad informed that they decided to hold an exhibition instead of any other activity because they believed that a picture spoke a thousand words.

Some 55 photographs were displayed at the exhibition. The participants varied from teenagers to senior citizens. Each patient depicted his own perception about the disease and its impacts. Through their pictures, they depicted that a patient, in our society not only suffers pain, weakness, and depression but is also stigmatised. Some pictures were showing the economical impacts of the disease that patients belonging to lower class face. Some photographs depicted the loneliness of patients after being diagnosed with the disease.

On the other hand, some courageous patients showed their positive emotions while being healed.
———-
Picture of health: Photography project helps ‘pariahs’ feel like patients
KARACHI:
For the 300,000 new patients of tuberculosis (TB) in Pakistan every year, finding a semblance of normalcy is a challenge. The Tasweer-e-Zindagi project from Interactive Research and Development attempts to change that, by giving them a voice and space to reduce stigmas.
Patients were given cameras to document how the condition affected their lives and those of their families.
“Before this project I had no hope that anyone cared about me or would give me hope,” said Saima Arshad, whose photo went on display at the exhibition at Indus Hospital on Saturday. “I was completely hopeless. People used to stay away from me because of my sickness and everyone’s attitudes towards me changed. This project has helped me respect my own life.”
A caption by Shabana-Aas-Mohammad sums up what life is like for patients. “No one comes near me. If someone does approach me, I feel happy that someone cares about me,” she said. “People stay away from me for different reasons – poverty, my disease or because they think they will have to help us. It’s just me, my room and loneliness.”
Loneliness and alienation from society was an issue that most patients complained of. Zainad said everyone in her neighbourhood shunned her, except for her husband. “If I didn’t stand by her side then who else would?” said Mohammad Nazir.
The ten-month project was first considered to be rather strange. “After they tried it, it became cathartic for them,” pointed out one of the project directors, Sana Sajun. “They had an avenue to vent, which they didn’t have before.”
Many of the patients who were part of the programme have been cured and were being treated by the Indus Hospital, a free hospital founded in 2007 with the aim of providing state-of-the-art facilities for the underprivileged.
The project also comprises a call for action that has six major objectives: to disseminate correct information about TB among the general population, health practitioners and people affected by it, create a supportive environment where people are empowered and not stigmatised, recognise and counter the social, emotional and financial impacts of TB, and recognise the need to provide communities with basic amenities conducive to good health.
One of the participants, Mohammad Hanif, contracted tuberculosis. His two sons and then his wife ended up getting it as well. His wife and a son have been cured and Hanif said he is satisfied with their recovery. He says the support of this project has given him the strength to battle the disease.
Stigmas and misconceptions about tuberculosis complicate treatment. A World Health Organisation report states that in 2010, 58,000 lives were lost from it. Pakistan ranks eighth among the highest burden countries for the disease.
Hanif tersely explains what needs to be done. “We have to learn not to hate the patient, but hate the disease.”
Published in The Express Tribune,

Incoming search terms: