A fascinating account of the experience of Dr Asma Elsony appears on a website run by the University of Oslo, Norway. 230,000 people were treated for tuberculosis in the Sudan between 1991 and 2005 when Dr Elsony led the national TB programme. During this time she also succeeded in obtaining a doctoral degree at the University of Oslo.

Her degree supervisor in Oslo, Professor Gunnar Bjune, credits her with saving over 100,000 lives in Sudan. However, while undertaking her doctoral degree studies, she also became President of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease - the first President of the Union to come from a developing country.

Dr Elsony describes the difficulties of running a TB programme in Sudan, difficulties which were compounded by political and human rights issues. Her husband was a political prisoner for seven years.

The article about Dr Elsony is well worth reading and can be accessed here.

TropIKA.net also of course publishes profile articles about key figures in the war against infectious diseases of poverty. If you have not already seen our Profiles section please do take a look here.