“Migrants are one of the most vulnerable groups in the population due to stress, low quality living conditions, insufficient meals, psychological instability and stigmatization,” says Zhanna Zhandauletova, Project HOPE’s TB Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator in Kazakhstan. “The main goal of labor migration is to find a well-paying job to financially support the family. Becoming ill while working causes a major dilemma.”

Zhanna says that when the migrant worker is faced with either paying for their medical treatment or sending their earnings home to their families, they usually choose the latter.

Zhanna is working on a new project addressing cross-border TB, M/XDR-TB (multidrug and extensively drug-resistant TB) and TB/HIV among labor migrants. The project provides free TB testing of migrants and family members, treatment in case of TB, and support for migrants during TB treatment along with motivation packs so that when they leave the country they continue treatment.

“This project really focuses on human values and has the potential to create a system of information for migrants from the moment of arrival into Kazakhstan to the moment of departure from the country,” she says. “The positive experience of the project can ease the life of a migrant abroad.”