Semreyit age 10
Treatment of children and teens
with drug resistant tuberculosis
GHC’s Impact:
As of May 2025, 557 children and teens have been treated for drug resistant (DR)-TB in the GHC program in Ethiopia.
Most had cycled through multiple courses of therapy for regular TB before reaching us and their drug resistant TB was diagnosed. This delay in diagnosis and starting treatment often results in damaged lungs susceptible to pneumonia and in many instances compromised hearts, profoundly affecting their future health even leading to death when the drug resistant TB is cured. Inevitably all of these children have lost years of schooling. GHC focuses on rapid diagnosis and close follow-up.
Semreyit
Semreyit was 10 years old when she presented to the GHC team with DR-TB having cycled through multiple treatments for regular TB that were ineffective. Her older sister had died of TB (presumably DR-TB). She was cured of DR-TB, but the severity of her disease caused heart failure from the extra work it exerted to push her blood through her diseased lungs.
Kulene age 12 on her admission with her grandmother at St. Peter’s Hospital, Addis Ababa, unable to walk due to TB of the spine causing severe kyphosis (left). Kulene (right) with her grandmother and on the road to cure after 9 months of treatment for drug resistant TB in the GHC program. She had not walked in 9 years due to paralysis due to TB of the spine. She began walking again shortly before this photo was taken defying all medical expectations.
Semreyit trying to keep up with her lessons in her hospital room at St Peters.
Click button below for video of Semreyit at St. Peter’s Hospital during her treatment:
Sultan
Sultan, at 17 years old , improving after 2 years of therapy for extensively drug resistant TB after receiving the new drug bedaquiline, a compassionate use donation from its manufacturer Janssens, as it was not yet available at the time. With his sister and GHC Outpatient Coordinator Kassim Abate (left). Like Semreyit, he suffered from heart failure due to the extensive damage to his lungs from his TB infection.
Sultan 4 months after addition of bedaquiline to his drug regimen, a new TB drug that has transformed DR-TB treatment that GHC obtained from Janssens Pharmaceuticals on a compassionate use basis. Sultan had no further evidence of DR-TB growth for the first time in 2 years of treatment. Out of formal school for years, he said he wanted to study to become a doctor.
Kulene
Mikyas
Mikyas, was diagnosed with HIV when his mother died of AIDS and TB when he was 12 years old. Shortly after, he developed problems walking and was found to have DR-TB of the brain and spine at St. Peter’s Hospital (above left). Cured of DR-TB after 2 years of treatment, he was left paraplegic and living with his grandmother in extreme poverty in a tin roof room up a hill in Addis Ababa with no running water. Right photo above: Outpatient coordinator Kasim Abate (left) provides social and medical support to 14 year old Mikyas (right) at home. A talented artist who drew pictures for all of his medical team, Mikiyas was forced to quit school in 7th grade due to his illness and was studying at home with support due to his permanent immobility. Picture on the right taken at home during follow-up outpatient visit 3 months after cure of DR-TB.
Ayetu
Chaltu
Ayetu, age 10, was admitted with high fever and diagnosed with DR-TB of the lymph nodes. This photo was taken after one week of therapy feeling much better without a fever. Her father stayed with her at St Peter’s Hospital in Addis Ababa while her mother cared for her other siblings at home.
Tiyuma
Chaltu lost her mother to TB (presumably DR-TB) when she was 8. Chaltu was diagnosed with TB when she was 9 and after a year of not improving in the rural town in which she lived, she was found to have DR-TB and transferred to the GHC program at St Peter’s. She received DR-TB therapy and was cured of DR-TB. GHC arranged tutoring throughout her 2 year hospitalization so she could catch up in school. Abandoned by her father at St Peters during her illness and treatment, she was adopted, and in a new life. She is seen here at age 14, cured of DR-TB wearing her school uniform on her way to school.
Like Semreyit at the top of this section, Tiyuma lost her older sister to tuberculosis (TB), presumably due to DR-TB. When Tiyuma also became sick with TB, she feared the same future. 17 year old Tiyuma’s illness forced her to drop out of school. She quit school in 10th grade when she became ill, and was sick for one year, with no improvement in her condition or access to education. she was found to have DR-TB and was started on therapy for DR-TB in the GHC/St Peter’s Program. This photo was taken one month after she began her treatment for DR-TB.
The Zahara Children’s Center
Created in partnership with Angelina Jolie and the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, the Zahara Children’s Center (ZCC) will be the first state-of-the-art TB and drug-resistant TB treatment center for children in Ethiopia and in the horn of Africa. Working in partnership with the Ethiopian national and Oromian TB programs, a major goal of the ZCC is to be a training site to enhance diagnostic and treatment approaches to pediatric DR-TB in Africa and to deliver best possible care to Ethiopian children.
The Zahara Children’s Center is located in Sheger City (Sebeta), Oromia, and is scheduled to open in winter 2026. It will provide pediatric focused DR-TB care and educational opportunities to children and teens to maintain their studies in tandem with medical and nutritional care. In collaboration with the Ethiopian and Oromian health ministries, it will serve as a Center of Excellence for TB and DR-TB care for children in Ethiopia and in Africa.
Like Tiyuma, Semreyit, Sultan, Kulene, Mikyas, Ayetu, Tiyuma, and Chaltu featured above, the majority of the 556 children and teens sick with drug-resistant TB who GHC has treated, have missed months to years of school during their illness, which has effectively robbed them of their education. Since they cannot return to school during the treatment process, their educations are further hindered.
A focus of the Zahara Children’s Center will also be to provide education to make-up educational time lost to bring kids to grade level. It will integrate lessons learned from the Maddox Chivan Children’s Center in Cambodia on holistic care, including enhanced nutrition, medical counseling and educational interventions and life opportunities and help children and teens develop their potential while on their path to recovery from DR-TB.
