Stephen Linton, the founder of an NGO that has been providing tuberculosis treatment to North Korea for many years, told reporters on the 5th, “Right now, Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB) infection rates are serious, so much so that we can say that North Korea is missing a ‘golden moment’ in the fight against tuberculosis.”
Linton had organized a press conference so as to reveal the results of his most recent trip to North Korea.
According to the World Health Organization’s ‘Global Tuberculosis Report 2012’ published on the 17th of last month, there are 345 Tuberculosis infections per 100,000 people in North Korea, the fourth highest in Asia after East Timor, Cambodia and Myanmar. However, this is almost certainly an understatement of the true extent of the problem.
Furthermore, despite external support over a number of years, the problem continues to grow more serious. This is partly because, according to defectors, the system established to treat TB is both inadequate and, like much of North Korea, extremely corrupt.
When North Koreans are suspected of having contracted TB they must go to regional and city treatment centers; however, there is only one such location in most regions, insufficient to accommodate the total number of patients.
Only patients in these hospitals are ordinarily able to access the medicines provided by NGOs such as Linton’s Eugene Bell Foundation. These NGOs are keen to ensure that the aid they give ends up in the right place, and strive to monitor delivery to treatment centers. However, those who cannot access the treatment locations must purchase TB drugs on the open market, but many if not most abandon such treatment after a while due to cost and lengthy nature of treatment for something like TB.
Although many doctors and nurses work hard to treat the disease, the fact that TB drugs are available on the open market shows that others are guilty of siphoning off the aid to sell in the jangmadang.
One defector who worked in this sector in North Korean Gangwon Province confirmed to Daily NK, “City and province cadres from the Party, NSA and PSM get the drugs they need for free from pharmaceutical management office directors or Party secretaries.”
The North Korean authorities are also meant to deliver meat to the TB treatment facilities, because being well fed improves the chances of treating the disease. However, much of this also disappears en route.
One defector from Hyesan testified to the problem, saying, “Treatment facilities are provided with a certain amount of meat, but this is siphoned off, meaning that the amount given to patients is often very small.”
