Telo Rinpoche and Dr. Kunchok Dorjee visiting a dormitory in a village in rural Mongolia, June 2024
January 2025
In late-December, 2024, SFI initiated a new program — in partnership with Dr. Kunchok Dorjee of Johns Hopkins University and the Diluv Hutugthu Foundation (DHF), founded by Telo Rinpoche and based in Ulaanbaatar — with the ultimate goal to stop the spread of TB in kids in Mongolia. The two-year pilot project will screen 2000 students residing in dormitories and monasteries in Ulaanbaatar and Zavkhan, a western province in Mongolia. Students will be screened for active and latent TB infection using an integrated algorithm consisting of symptom screening, clinical examination, tuberculin skin testing (TST), digital x-ray with artificial intelligence (AI) and molecular diagnostics. Study participants will also be tested for Hepatitis B and, if needed, will be provided with vaccinations. In addition, DHF will conduct programs to generate awareness in the communities about latent TB infection and TB prevention.
Dr Dorjee has been conducting similar programs in Nepal and India since 2017. To date, more than 30,000 schoolchildren and staff members (including monks and nuns in monasteries and nunneries, respectively) have been screen for latent and active TB and treated as needed. In Tibetan schools in Northern India covered by ZTBK, TB incidence has declined by 90%.
The ZTBK program in Mongolia will be under the technical leadership of Dr Dorjee with DHF providing management and SFI providing funding.
Gher (tent) of herder families in rural Mongolia, Summer 2024.