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Asad’s Fight: Surviving Tuberculosis Under the Threat of COVID-19

Fighting for What Counts

By The Global Fund

March 23^rd, 2022

Asad says the three most important things in his life are supporting his beloved wife, caring for his mother and having good health. But after COVID-19 hit, there were times when all three were out of reach.

Asad: Fighting for What Counts

Asad lives with his wife and his mother in a poor neighborhood in the township of Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city. As a chef, Asad was looking for a job before COVID-19 hit. In the meantime, he supported his family selling chotpoti from his food cart, a popular Bengali street food made from chickpeas, potatoes and onions.

That was until his mother fell sick in July 2021.

Asad did not have the money to cover his mother’s medical care.

Asad with his mother Mosammed Nuru Banu.

Asad and his wife Mosammed Parul Akhter have breakfast in their home.

“My last resource was my chotpoti cart. I sold that cart, and I did those tests for my mother,” he says.

Asad’s mother was diagnosed with a lung infection and was put on medication. Asad planned to continue working, even if he no longer owned the food cart, but COVID-19 lockdown measures were put into place. While at home Asad had no income, and he and his family got by on food and other basic support provided by the government and neighbors.

At this time, Asad also started feeling sick himself. “I was feeling chest pain and I was also sneezing and coughing. So, I was scared.”

Asad did not know where to turn for help. He remembers struggling through those very dark days. “All of my income (sources) and businesses were stopped. My mind, my mood was off,” he says. “There was no hope.”

Portrait of Asad near the Dhaka-Tongi train line close to his home.

COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the fight against TB

When COVID-19 started spreading around the world, many of the resources used to fight TB were diverted to fight the new disease.

In 2020, the number of people treated for TB in countries where the Global Fund invests dropped by approximately 1 million compared to 2019. And for the first time in more than a decade, the number of people dying from the disease increased, with 100,000 more people losing their lives from TB in 2020 compared to the year before.

Next to COVID-19, TB was the world’s deadliest infectious disease in 2020, killing 1.5 million people.

The fight against TB in Bangladesh was not immune to the consequences of the global pandemic.

As one of the world’s 30 high-TB burden countries, case notifications dropped by a staggering 22% between 2019 and 2020. But despite the significant decline, Bangladesh rapidly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2020, and treatment coverage reached an all-time high at the end of 2021.

Street scene on the outskirts of Dhaka, near the township where Asad lives.

Fighting back against two deadly diseases

Much of the success in Bangladesh was due to government leadership and effective collaboration between civil society organizations and the public and private sectors, including the National TB Program (NTP), BRAC, the World Health Organization the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Fund.

As a first step, the NTP rapidly established guidance on maintaining essential TB services during the pandemic and recruited additional staff. More than 500 community health volunteers, as well as additional laboratory workers, were deployed to provide TB prevention and care, including sample collections, referrals and treatment support. Service providers received special training to address the stigma, discrimination and fear surrounding COVID-19 that was preventing people from accessing health care.

Simultaneous TB and COVID-19 testing was introduced through GeneXpert diagnostic machines at 71 sites across the country and an additional 200 machines were purchased through Global Fund support to further bolster testing services.

Global Fund investments supported the distribution of protective equipment for health workers. COVID-19 messages were integrated into TB campaigns and the number of community outreach events increased, including family and community counseling.

GeneXpert machines like the ones at the icddr,b Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center in Dhaka can be used for both TB and COVID-19 diagnosis.

A BRAC Shasthya Shebika (community health worker) visits Asad where he lives.

A new beginning for Asad

During Asad’s darkest days, a neighbor noticed he was sick and connected him to Shahnaz, a community health volunteer with Global Fund partner BRAC. Shahnaz sent Asad and his mother to a free clinic where they were tested using a GeneXpert machine. Asad was diagnosed with TB. His mother was referred to a private doctor for additional testing and evaluations and was also diagnosed with the disease.

Both Asad and his mother were registered at a government-run health facility and were put on daily TB medications for six months.

Throughout the treatment, Shahnaz provided support, ensuring both Asad and his mother had enough medication, that they were taking it correctly and that any adverse side-effects were reported and addressed.

At the end of February 2022, after half a year of daily treatment, Asad and his mother were cured of TB.

Asad with his mother.

Asad prepares his stove for cooking.

Asad serves chotpoti to a customer.

“My mother and I, both of us are healthy now. Today, I have a huge amount of courage and strength in my mind,” says Asad.

Asad now has a chotpoti shop and still aspires to find a job as a chef.

“My future plan is to grow my business and to support my mother and my wife.”

By the end of 2021, Bangladesh reached an all-time high in its TB treatment coverage rate, accelerating the fight to end this deadly disease.

Asad plays with his nephew in the Beltola township where he lives.

Asad’s Fight: Surviving Tuberculosis Under the Threat of COVID-19

Footnotes

Written by Melanie Sharpe. Photography: The Global Fund/Yousuf Tushar. With many thanks to Bangladesh’s National Tuberculosis Control Programme and BRAC.

FootNotes

Written by Melanie Sharpe. Photography: The Global Fund/Yousuf Tushar. With many thanks to Bangladesh’s National Tuberculosis Control Programme and BRAC.

© 2026 The Global Fund

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