Tuberculosis and You
Tuberculosis and you is an easy-to-read guide for people, who are experiencing tuberculosis, which was initiated by Paulina Siniatkina in 2017. The book is approved and supported by the WHO, IFRC and the Russian Ministry of Health.
History
Based on my exhibition “Hold your breath” in 2016, I was commissioned by the Lilly Partnership to create illustrations for a brochure about TB. Shortly after starting work on the brochure, I took initiative to curate the entire project.
TB activist Ksenia Schenina was invited to participate in the project. We both experienced tuberculosis and both faced a lack of access to easily-understandable information about the disease. We collected 12 of the most common myths around TB, and to refute them we interviewed doctors and clinicians. Debunking the many myths surrounding TB gave a specific structure to the work.
Thanks to The Lilly Partnership and TBpeople the first Russian edition was published in 2017 with 10.000 copies. The guide was distributed to hospitals in different cities of Russia and countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The book was translated into 12 other languages. Thanks to The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies it was presented at UN General Assembly, High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in 2018 in New York.
The idea of the book came up when I thought about one big problem. Many patients feel very alone. Doctors hardly communicate with patients and there are no psychologists in hospitals. While it is of vital importance to convey to patients that the disease is curable, and how. This causes misinformation and horror stories about the disease to spread throughout the TB clinics. So I thought that I could create a book, which would be written in simple, accessible language. In the book we tell what the patient can expect from treatment, and we debunk many myths about tuberculosis. “TB and you” is not just a brochure with vital information; it is a mental support, a psychologist and a friend.
Patients from Almaty (Kazakhstan) with the book.
Thanks to Centre PAS and TB REP the book was translated into Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Romanian, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek (in progress) and Ukrainian and was approved by the local NTPs.
Thanks to Dr. Tsogt from Mongolia the book was translated to Mongolian.
Click on the cover with your language to read the guide!
