Battling the scourge of MDR-TB

Cui Kunzhu, a 59-year-old farmer living in a remote mountain village in Yangcheng county, Shanxi province, has been going through a harrowing time during the past seven years. He has been suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis since 2010, after undergoing a cancer surgery in 2008.

Like many other people suffering from similar TB-related health problems in cities such as Jincheng and Changzhi in Shanxi, Cui lives in an area where traditional farm work is the only source of income.

Cui's daughter, who is studying at a medical university, had to depend on student loans to cover her annual university expenses of 20,000 yuan ($3,230) since 2011.