MSF: Difficulties reaching and affording medical care are not the only barriers to TB treatment faced by people in Afghanistan. Another is the widespread lack of knowledge about the disease. MSF teams carry out regular health promotion activities in local communities in Kandahar to improve people’s understanding of TB. Over 70 per cent of patients in MSF’s Kandahar TB hospital are women and children. “Women and children stay at home in dusty, poorly ventilated rooms for longer periods of time than men,” says Tommy. “If a woman gets infected, the children are likely to catch the disease as well,” he says. An additional challenge for female patients is that they are generally required to be accompanied by a male family member to the hospital, and this coupled with the economic barriers can significantly reduce their access to healthcare. Click here to read more (external link).