Lesotho organization and people
PIH's Rural Initiative project in Lesotho is based in remote mountain clinics
at Nohana, Bobete, Nkau, and Lebakeng, supported by staff at a small office
in the capital city of Maseru and in Boston. The project maintains doctors
at each mountain clinic to treat patients and provide training and oversight
for nurses and village health workers.
The small office in Maseru provides managerial and logistical support and
coordinates with the Ministry of Health and with partner organizations, including:
the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), which has taken responsibility for
drug procurement and many other aspects of the project; Lesotho Flying Doctors,
which works under the Ministry of Health to bring doctors and medicines to
clinics that often cannot be reached by road; and Mission Aviation Fellowship,
whose planes and pilots we rely upon to get people, supplies and laboratory
samples in and out of the remote mountain clinics. These partnerships and the
role of the Maseru office will become increasingly important as the project
expands to more clinics, with the goal of reaching a total of ten by late 2008.
PIH's MDR-TB project in Lesotho is based at Botsabelo MDR-TB Hospital in Maseru,
which was completely renovated in 2007. Previously a leprosy hospital, Botsabelo
Hospital was converted into a 20-bed facility for the treatment of critically
ill MDR-TB and MDR-TB/HIV coinfected patients. MDR-TB treatment is mostly provided
at the community level, supported by paid and carefully trained community health
workers who visit patients in their homes twice a day.
The project includes a new pharmacy, supporting the vast amounts of MDR-TB
and side effects medicines necessary (many co-infected patients must take 20-30
pills each day). PIH also supported the renovation of the TB Laboratory in
Maseru. Staffed by Ministry of Health lab techs receiving technical assistance
from the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), the lab is currently
performing culture and first-line drug sensitivity testing, and has recently
started performing parallel tests on liquid media culture via a MGIT machine
donated by FIND.
A project assistant based at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for
Health and Human Rights in Boston helps coordinate communication and management.
Key people in the Lesotho project include:
Clinical Director - Dr. Hind Satti
Project Manager - Archie Ayeh
MDR-TB Program Officer - Dr. KJ (Kwonjune) Seung
Chief Physician, Bobete - Dr. Theonevus Chinyanga
Chief Physician, Nkau - Dr. Limpho Ramangoaela
Chief Physician, Lebakeng - Dr. Nicholas Lesia
Chief Physician, Tlhanyaku –
Chief Physician, Methalaneng – Dr. Mopeli Hlasoa
MDR-TB Physician - Dr. Samuel Akoni
MDR-TB Community Coordinator - Likhapha Ntlamelle
General Technology Specialist - Jeremy Keeton
|
