Campaign To Raise Funds for Tuberculosis Patients Kicks Off

UDPATED: Nov. 4, 2014, at 2:40 a.m.

Dr. Kwonjune Seung, medical director of the Eugene Bell Foundation, a non-profit organization providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea, discussed his efforts to address North Korea’s tuberculosis crisis Monday.

The talk, given in Ticknor Lounge, addressed the motives behind the “5K for NK” fundraiser hosted by Harvard College student groups.

“We’ve been organizing this event since the beginning of the semester to spread the word about tuberculosis and to raise money for our 5K for NK event,” said Diana Im ’17, an event organizer. The fundraiser aims to raise $5,000 for the Bell Foundation to cure one patient with tuberculosis in North Korea, Im explained.

Seung, who has been working in North Korea for about 14 years, has continued to visit in an effort to deliver medicine to tuberculosis patients in the country.

Seung started by explaining that tuberculosis is an “extremely common disease all over the world” that is caused by airborne bacteria. The contagiousness of the disease makes it more dangerous for the people in North Korea, who often have to live in close quarters in rural houses for tuberculosis patients, he said.

“This is a disease that is hundreds and hundreds of years old,” and “it can go to other parts of your body,” Seung said. However, tuberculosis is not as commonly seen in the United States because “tuberculosis is a treatable disease,” he said.

The situation is different in North Korea. Despite the availability of antibiotics in North Korea, a tuberculosis epidemic still persists because, according to Seung, “the strains in North Korea are not normal strains of tuberculosis. You cannot cure it with the same drugs that are effective in other parts of the world.”

The Eugene Bell Foundation is working to fight against the epidemic by bringing drugs to North Korea that treat the mutant Multidrug-resistant TB strain. Seung discussed the impact of his work by explaining that “the numbers of tuberculosis patients that [the Foundation is] treating are far higher than anyone expected.”

The drugs are in extremely high demand and there is a long waiting list of people hoping to receive treatment, Seung said. He criticized the lack of initiative on the part of other non-profit organizations to deliver much needed drugs to North Korea.

“There is very little MDR-TB treatment going on outside of Eugene Bell,” Seung said, adding that there is a disproportionate demand-to-treatment ratio.