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"When I look at myself in the mirror, I see another face; I see someone who can smile again, someone who has regained good health and strength; someone who is ready to take care of our children again and help my husband on our little farm."
Amina Mussa Hussein is one of the 20,000 people in Somalia who have received free DOTS (Directly-Observed-Treatment Short Course) medication, paid for through a Global Fund grant worth almost US$ 14 million fighting tuberculosis in the country.
"I was coughing a lot and felt very weak so I went to see a doctor at the health center," says Amina. "There, the doctor took a sample of my sputum which he sent to the lab in Hargeisa. One week later, I was officially diagnosed with TB and started taking DOTS medication."
Now, six months later, she has been declared completely cured of TB. After a three month isolation treatment with DOTS, the internationally-recommended TB control strategy, at the Hargeisa TB Hospital in Somaliland, she has continued this treatment for three more months by going every day to the health center, in her own village.
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