Pulmonary Center of Excellence for Adult TB and AIDS Care
Since mid-2004, CHC has worked in the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital - the largest public hospital in Cambodia. Their pulmonary ward serves as a major hub for patients with TB, but many patients suffered or died under its poor conditions.
CHC set out to renovate this pulmonary ward to ensure people received life-saving care in a safe setting, which has safeguarded the futures of thousands of people.
The ward prior to renovation in 2004 (left) and as it is today (right).
When CHC initiated care for drug-resistant TB in this pulmonary ward, it became the first site in Cambodia to have isolation rooms for infectious patients starting treatment. Now it has 20 isolation rooms available to serve them. The ward likewise offers four sections, including one dedicated to patients afflicted by TB and another for patients with both TB and HIV.
After renovation and CHC’s collaboration, this pulmonary ward became a Center of Excellence within the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital. It serves as a training site for students and nurses from around the country.
It also hosted the completed clinical trial, CAMELIA, which led to critical discoveries on when to initiate HIV treatment in people coinfected with TB. The question of ‘when’ to stage the mixture of antibiotics and antiviral drugs is considered dire to saving someone’s life, since “30 percent of HIV-infected patients die within two months of their TB diagnosis.”
Thanks to the generous support from the U.S. National Institute of Health, the French National Agency for Research on AIDS, and the Japanese Embassy Grass Roots Fund.