On the Road to Ending Tuberculosis: Voices from Thailand

In 2003, Lee Leh fled persecution in Myanmar and came to Mae La Camp, a temporary shelter in north-western Thailand hosting over 34,000 refugees, predominantly those from the bordering Kayin state. He has built his life in Thailand since then and is now 77 years old.

Despite emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic unscathed, Lee Leh knows firsthand that life as an elderly individual has its risks, especially in challenging environmental and living conditions.

So, when he started feeling unwell, he was extremely concerned. “I was coughing a lot and had stomach pain. I could not walk properly," he recalls.

Fortunately, Lee Leh’s daughter was tested for tuberculosis (TB) a few years ago and remembered that coughing is its common symptom. Still, she could not be certain. Despite not knowing what disease was plaguing him, Lee Leh only had one thing in mind: “I want to get better.”

Although TB incidence is gradually declining in Thailand, it continues to be an important public health concern. As of 2020, TB incidence in the country was 150 cases per 100,000 people. In 2021, Thailand remained on the World Health Organization’s list of 30 high-burden countries for TB.

Delays in TB diagnosis or lack of access to treatment can lead to transmission in communities – a challenge magnified among mobile and migrant populations, many of whom already had difficulties accessing healthcare.

Through the Global Fund’s Tuberculosis Elimination Among Migrants (TEAM 2) in the Greater Mekong Subregion Project, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is conducting and managing TB active case finding and health education among migrants in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The Mae La Camp is one of its primary target locations in Thailand.

This proved to be Lee Leh’s saviour. With encouragement from his daughter, he got screened and, as initially suspected, tested positive. Without hesitation, he opted for treatment and was isolated in a hospital for two weeks.

The story was written by Miko Alazas, Media Communications Officer at IOM Türkiye (Previously based in Thailand)