She lies frail on Ward 3A’s bed at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.

Faines (not real name) is wearing a flowery pink top and a black beret covering her head. Her lips look dry and cracked but she tries to purse them as she tells her experience with recurrence TB.

“This is the second time I’m receiving TB treatment. I first had it two years ago,” says Faines, a Chileka resident, who has been receiving treatment at the hospital for two months now.