A rickshaw puller’s family with six children living in northeast Delhi was jolted in 2018 when one of their daughters, Archana (changed name), who was studying in class VII, had typhoid. She had fever, cough, extreme weakness and giddiness, with medicines not helping her case either.  

But the gravity of her health struck hard when one day, while in her class, she coughed up blood. This incident was frightening for the family. Her mother took her to the government-run chest clinic where she was diagnosed with TB and put on treatment for six months. She managed to complete her treatment despite a lot of side effects including vomiting. 

But barely three months after completing her treatment, TB symptoms resurfaced with even more severity. This time she was diagnosed with a serious form of TB (multidrug-resistant TB or MDR-TB), treatment of which continued for the next two years. 

Her struggles to cope with the disease increased manifold with severe side effects. She struggled with vomiting and adverse impacts on her vision and hearing, along with severe swelling in the leg. The grave condition made even performing her daily grooming a formidable task. She also had to be hospitalised twice in a government-run hospital during the course of her treatment. But driven by her grit and determination, she adhered to her treatment patiently for two long years. 

Eventually she got cured of MDR-TB in 2021. But her long battle against TB and MDR-TB had taken away three precious years of her life and disrupted her education. 

However, her family’s travails were not over as by the time she got cured, her sister was diagnosed with MDR-TB too. Fortunately, both are now cured. Archana is now dedicatedly serving Humana People to People India (HPPI) as a frontline worker (field officer), helping to support others-in-need. She assists   key and other vulnerable populations in protecting themselves from TB. She also provides follow-up and support to those suffering from the disease in accessing early and equitable TB screening, diagnosis, treatment, care, and social support. Alongside, she herself gets tested for TB every three months. 

“I love my work at HPPI because it gives me immense happiness to support people with TB (PwTB) throughout their treatment. I share my own journey of overcoming TB and MDR-TB with them. When they see that I recovered, it gives them hope and confidence that they too can defeat the disease by completing their treatment,” says Archana. 

Archana hopes to resume her education while continuing her work with HPPI. Her journey is a powerful reminder that TB is curable, even in its drug-resistant forms, and that with determination, timely treatment, and compassionate support, survivors can become champions in the fight to end TB.