Video produced by Ground Media. © 2016 Global Fund Advocates Network/
Louie was diagnosed at age 24 with tuberculosis (TB) meningitis (tuberculosis in the brain). At the time, she had been planning to take her board exam to become an architect and to start her career. Instead, she found herself going through years of treatment and its debilitating side effects for TB and then multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). TB drugs can cause severe side-effects; during her difficult treatment, she lost her vision permanently.
When she discovered that normal TB drugs did not work for her, Louie was able to get a proper diagnosis for her MDR-TB and full, free treatment at a clinic funded by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Now Louie is involved in national and international disability advocacy. In her TB patient treatment advocacy work, Louie promotes patient empowerment and universal access to treatment including those with disability. She is also married and a mother.
Louie has a message: ending TB is within our reach, but to do this “we need to keep investing in Global Fund.”