Logline:
The documentary follows the stories of the families whose lives were affected by tuberculosis. Apart from the disease itself, the patients also have to deal with the stigma and judgement of their surroundings which they overcome thanks to medical and psychological support.

Synopsis:
The documentary film “Healing care: supporting families to tackle child TB” tells the stories of the families who have been helped or are still being helped by Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) project focusing on prevention and treatment of the disease.
Surayo’s family lives in a remote area on the border with Uzbekistan. Her children got infected with tuberculosis from their grandfather. Surayo has received basic medical training and can treat her children at home instead of travelling to a distant hospital for treatment.
Mahbuba has experienced rejection from the neighbourhood due to her illness. People laughed at her and did not want anyone to play with her children. They believed that the disease was infectious even after a long time.
Through the MSF staff we also meet patients of the paediatric TB hospital: Mahina and Mohamed who share their struggle during the onset and development of the illness.
Stigma and difficulties of following the treatment are challenges they overcome thanks to the support of medics and psychologists.


Background information:

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in close collaboration with Tajik Ministry of Health (MoH) is supporting a comprehensive TB care programme in Tajikistan since 2011 aiming at decreasing TB morbidity and mortality among children and adults.

MSF applies innovative approaches in paediatric TB treatment. In addition to the introduction of newer drugs and more tolerable regimens, the Family-DOT programme is implemented, which allows patients to be treated at home with the supervision of a trained family member. This is particularly advantageous for patients who live in remote areas and for whom regular trips to the hospital would be a major obstacle.