Sinethemba takes her daily regimen for XDR-TB at 10am each day. She also takes two additional delamanid tablets at night. She is 16 years old, lives with her grandmother, Vuyisiwa Madubela, and four other family members in a two-bedroomed home in Zone C29, Khayelitsha, Western Cape, South Africa. Her grandmother’s determination and love, combined with receiving a six-month trial of one the newest DR-TB drugs on the market likely saved her life this year. Photograph by Sydelle Willow Smith
Report series

DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope

TUBERCULOSIS
Photograph by Sydelle Willow Smith
Sinethemba takes her daily regimen for XDR-TB at 10am each day. She also takes two additional delamanid tablets at night. She is 16 years old, lives with her grandmother, Vuyisiwa Madubela, and four other family members in a two-bedroomed home in Zone C29, Khayelitsha, Western Cape, South Africa. Her grandmother’s determination and love, combined with receiving a six-month trial of one the newest DR-TB drugs on the market likely saved her life this year. Photograph by Sydelle Willow Smith

Drug resistance is a major public health crisis thwarting the effective treatment and care of people living with tuberculosis (TB). But with the release of new curative medicines and patient-minded improvements of treatment guidelines, drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) no longer has to be a death sentence. 

However, countries, policymakers and healthcare providers tasked with reaching and treating people living with DR-TB must take concrete actions to get lifesaving medicines to the people who need them most. 

MSF Access Campaign’s DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope report series examines the current landscape of DR-TB drug pricing and access policies and makes recommendations for governments, policymakers and healthcare providers to improve access to these lifesaving treatments. The eighth edition of the report was published in November 2022.

All editions