In the early 1990s, Peru suffered from one of the worst epidemics of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the world.  At that time, MDR-TB had been deemed impossible to treat in developing countries.  While effective, MDR-TB therapy requires strict adherence to one’s drug regimen, as missed doses often result in an increase in drug resistance.  Most experts deemed this treatment regimen too complex and too expensive to be practical in a resource-poor setting. As a result, millions of people around the world were left to die untreated. 

That changed in 1996, when DGHE physicians and Partners In Health (PIH) implemented an MDR-TB treatment program in an urban slum in Lima, Peru.  At the forefront of this effort were DGHE’s Dr. Jim Yong Kim and Dr. Sonya Shin.  Kim, Shin and their colleagues from local partner organization Socios en Salud hired community health workers to visit each patient at home on a daily basis to ensure that every medication dose was taken as prescribed.  The success rates from their novel approach were astounding: over 80% of the patients in the first group treated were cured, a rate equal to or better than that attained in major medical centers across the United States.  

Today, countries around the world use the MDR-TB treatment approach pioneered by DGHE physicians and PIH, often relying on The PIH Guide to the Medical Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis to support their efforts.  DGHE and PIH clinicians also shape global TB policy by serving as members of the World Health Organization’s Green Light Committee, which provides programmatic guidance and medications at reduced prices for MDR-TB treatment projects using this model.

At the request of the Peruvian Ministry of Health, DGHE and PIH launched a program in 2006 to scale up the nation’s HIV/AIDS testing and treatment programs.  In addition to designing treatment programs and providing direct patient care, DGHE clinicians also conduct clinical research and act as consultants to the Peruvian Ministry of Health.