In the slums of Manila, Kiwi nurse Jessa Pontevedra goes from shack to shack, using a new tool to fight tuberculosis. Nicholas Jones and Mike Scott went with her.
It’s often necessary to crouch when walking through the labyrinth alleyways between the buildings, to avoid the plastic sheets, drying clothes and wires overhead.
At ground level, the pathways act as drains and sewers - rubbish and plastic collects in puddles, as do swarms of flies and mosquitos - but also living rooms and communal areas.
Tiny stalls sell vegetables and “pagpag” - thrown-out food that’s recooked - and people do
the washing while watching children play among dogs, kittens, and roosters tethered by the leg.
The path narrows and darkens as we go deeper - a maze known only to locals, and the MSF workers here to check up on recent patients.
Genevieve Sael, 47, sits peeling garlic into a plastic tub, as some of her eight children dart around, excited by our presence.
This work is irregular, and she mostly survives by scavenging.
She’s the sole earner after her husband’s stroke, and the family sometimes borrows food or money from neighbours.
Sael had a relative with TB - who coughed up blood - so took the chance to be screened.
She tested positive, as did one of her daughters, Crystal, 6.
Mother and daughter are now cured, and Crystal is gaining weight.
The family share a small two-room, airless shack. Christian Jay Hontiveros, the MSF worker checking on Sael, has seen worse overcrowding.
“One household had 32 family members. This is just a small room, like a studio. They cannot sleep all the time, but they were able to survive because half of them work in the morning, and half at night. There are multiple TB cases in the household.”
Read their full report, with on-the-ground photos and video, below.
