Alumna brings the benefits of her Chevening Scholarship to Bhutan’s Health Care system

Tuberculosis, and in particular multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, is a growing problem in Bhutan. Chevening Alumna Lila Adhikari is now part of a team that is working toward more effective screening of the diasease.

The national tuberculosis reference laboratory (NTRL) at the Royal Centre for Disease Control (RCDC), in collaboration with Dr Alexander Kumar and Professor David Moore of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has won the WHO-TDR grant for carrying out a project titled Assessment and optimization of first time implementation of the ‘Gene Xpert’ machine in Bhutan. 

The objective of this project is to assess the use of the Gene Xpert machine installed at four hospitals in Bhutan for the first time to screen multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. The other objectives include mapping out tuberculosis cases in Bhutan and digitalising TB reports for analysis in order to help make informed decision for efficient and effective use of the diagnostic tool.

The proposal for the project was drafted and submitted while Lila was pursuing her master’s degree in epidemiology at LSHTM. The project will last for one year. 

‘The Chevening programme gave me the opportunity to pursue this course in one of the world’s best public health research universities, which allowed me to connect with enthusiastic and intellectual public health practioners from around the world, and in particular with Dr Alex Kumar and Professor David Moore, who have provided much support in this project,’ said Lila.