These are among the most powerful images I have ever seen. Delivered as a brilliant project intended to draw attention to the world’s medically underserved, the Waiting for Health Project is worth your attention. The goal of the Waiting for Health Project is to ‘break through the noise and put humanity back at the center of the conversation.’
The photographer of this striking image is Yoppy Pieter of Indonesia.
Gilang holds an x-ray of his right lung, damaged as a result of Bronchiectasis—a condition when airways are so damaged they no longer clear out bacteria, often leading to repeated and serious lung infections.
In Indonesia, Bronchiectasis is often not diagnosed or treated in a timely manner. Gilang waited through four medical examinations before his Bronchiectasis was identified, along with its likely source: an extended and untreated Tuberculosis infection.
Antibiotic therapy and physiotherapy brought no help for young Gilang. Six months after this photo was taken, his right lung collapsed. To prevent infection from spreading to his left lung, his right lung was surgically removed. Sadly, his battle came to an end three days later.
Indonesia reports the fifth-largest number of Tuberculosis cases in the world after India, China, South Africa and Nigeria.
Huge kudos to the Rockefeller Foundation for making me stop dead in my tracks through Waiting for Health