International Women's Day (+1) - and kicking ass

Yesterday was International Women’s Day (and what’s more, World TB Day is now less than a fortnight away).

Given the significance of yesterday, we feel it important to recognise that we have some extraordinary women in our little team not just here in Europe but also providing vital support in Japan as well. Thank you!

What’s more, over the past decade we’ve had the rare privilege of meeting and working with some truly extraordinary women in Uganda and South Africa – women who we recognise to be on the front line of the battle against this disease making sure that TB patients take their drugs. What's more are they live at maximum risk of infection themselves and get little in the way of pay or recognition for this (even too often being given little or nothing in the way of protection). Reflecting on the importance of yesterday,it makes us realise the importance of reminding the wider world of this fact.

In the next fortnight we expect to meet a new group of these women in Angola where we are hoping to set up two moxa projects and we’re looking forward to this. (Angola has the fastest rising economy in Africa, but its majority population is sadly benighted by a truly pernicious TB epidemic).

But this morning we also found an email from the Stop TB Partnership in our inbox (a Partnership of which we are a proud member). It included a specific message about International Women’s Day from its CEO, Dr Lucica Ditiu. Lucica is another truly extraordinary woman. She's someone who fights tirelessly for the rights of TB patients everywhere and most of all for those who are most disenfranchised and neglected (who sadly are very often women). Since we found what she wrote to be so inspuring we think it’s worth sharing what she had to say yesterday:

‘International Women’s Day should not just be about bold statements. It should be about the actions and attitudes of each and every one of us, day by day, that truly make a difference to empowering women.

‘Maya Angelou said: “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.”

Maya Angelou

Lucica continues:

‘I'm a Romanian woman who fought long and hard in life for many things, including my career. I am now in a place and time from which I can say that there is nothing that can stop a woman who wants something, if she is empowered and allowed to fight for it. So heads up and lets kick ass. It's Time to end TB!’

TB is a most certainly a bitch! So let’s go out and kick its ass with Lucica and all those extraordinary women who put thesmleves on the line on the front line of this disease.

It's Time to end TB! (please click on this link...).

TB isis a most certainly a bitch! So let’s go out and kick its ass. It's Time to end TB!