As I prepare to be reunited with my confiscated mobile phone at the airport, returning to the UK and media frenzy about Swine Flu, I reflect on what I have seen and learned here. TB is one of the oldest health problems in the world, a potentially deadly lung disease – extremely painful. The drugs which cure the disease are powerful and themselves make the patients feel very sick. The disease is transmitted by people coughing, spitting and sneezing; those with weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible. It is even gaining a foothold in the UK again after many years of absence.
Here in North Korea where food is often in short supply and people sleep in crowded accommodation with poor ventilation in winter, there is a serious epidemic with an incidence rate of nearly 350 new cases every year per 100,000 population compared to a global average of 38 per 100,000. TB epidemics incubate slowly and may remain undetected as disease quietly spreads through a population. Once an epidemic starts it can take years to get under control as the TB bacteria often remain undetected even as the disease continues to spread amongst the population.
As well as undertaking the major project at the National TB reference lab, CFK is already supplying up to 40% of all supplies – TB medicine and food, (more cans of chicken!) for many of the hospitals and rest homes, as well as new operating theatres like the one we saw in Sariwon. Of course there remain many challenges.
Overall, I have seen myself what a wonderful job CFK is doing, really on a shoestring. They are one of just a handful of NGOs working in the country and they are very respected as an organisation in North Korea. It is clear that they have a good co-operative working relationship with the right people and government departments, which is enabling them to get things done. But they are also realistic; they don’t make promises they can’t keep. This is all leading to them being involved in new opportunities and new work; hepatitis is the next big challenge and that could be exciting.
CFK make 3 or 4 trips a year like the one I’ve just been on, delivering supplies and checking their projects. It is not easy to go; it is certainly not a holiday and it takes planning, willingness and flexibility, but for anyone like me who has lived in and visited South Korea, life above the impermeable 38th parallel remains a subject of much curiosity. So, to go there is always fascinating – to me it now feels like South Korea did in the ‘60s.
To have the purpose of visiting CFK’s work and seeing where my donations have been spent is very special; I’ve seen some amazing things and gained a real insight into the working conditions and therefore the value and hard-earned success of this excellent charity.