Senegal: Fight against tuberculosis hampered by failure to complete treatment

Like many Senegalese, Ibou Seck stopped taking his tuberculosis treatment before the course was up, prolonging his illness, risking death, and ultimately reducing the effectiveness of the drugs for other patients. “I didn’t have any support from my family so I stopped my treatment early. I was left alone, isolated in a back room near the chicken house while everyone in the district gossiped about my illness,” explained 36-year-old Seck, who works as a mechanic in the capital, Dakar.