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:

Country Director – Dr. Jennifer Furin
Deputy Country Director – Dr. Salmaan Keshavjee
MDR-TB Program Officer - Dr. KJ (Kwonjune) Seung
MDR-TB Director - Dr. Hind Satti
Chief Physician, Nohana - Dr. Jonas Rigodon
Chief Physician, Bobete - Dr. Theonevus Chinyanga
Chief Physician, Nkau - Dr. Limpho Ramangoaela
Chief Physician, Lebakeng - Dr. Nicholas Lesia
Chief Physician, Tlhanyaku – Dr. Simba Kudakushe
Chief Physician, Methalaneng – Dr. Mopeli Hlasoa
MDR-TB Physician - Dr. Samuel Akoni
MDR-TB Community Coordinator - Likhapha Ntlamelle
Project Coordinator - Archie Ayeh (Lesotho)
Project Coordinator - Cheryl Snyder (Boston)
General Technology Specialist - Jeremy Keeton