Shreya Tripathi (died 9 October 2018) was an Indian health activist.
Shreya Tripathi | |
|---|---|
| Died | 9 October 2018 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | health activist |
Tripathi was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2012.[1] She was treated with first- and second-line medications, but her strain was found to be extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), rendering the usual treatment ineffective.[1] She was forced to drop out of school in 2015 due to her illness. By age 18, she had lost so much weight that she measured only 55 lb (25 kg).[2] Her family was forced to travel hundreds of miles from their home in Patna to a respiratory disease center in New Delhi in the hopes of getting bedaquiline, a newly developed medication for XDR-TB. She was refused because she was not a resident of New Delhi. The Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) in India declined to provide her with bedaquiline.[3] With the assistance of Anand Grover, Tripathi filed suit against the RNTCP to force the organization to provide access to the medication.[3] On 20 January 2017, the High Court in Delhi ruled in favour of Tripathi and ordered that she receive the drug.[4] The court further ordered that bedaquiline be made available at 70 Indian treatment centres; it had previously only been obtainable at six.[5] Although her suit was successful, the treatment delay resulted in irreversible scarring to Tripathi's lungs, resulting in her death at age 19.[3]
Stephen Lewis highlighted Tripathi's story in a 2017 keynote address.[5] In an article written after Tripathi's death, Lewis and Jennifer Furin suggested that Tripathi "belongs with Malala and Greta in the pantheon of teenagers whose unswerving principles have brought the powerful to their knees".[4]
References
edit- ^ a b Amrit Dhillon (13 January 2017). "Politics and protocol leave Indian teen's life in the balance pending TB drug ruling". The Guardian.
- ^ Shaikh-Lesko, Rina (January 19, 2017). "A Teen's Family Fought To Get Her A Restricted TB Drug — And Won". NPR.
- ^ a b c Jennifer Furin (30 March 2019). "TB Killed Shreya Tripathi, But Her Death Could Have Been Avoided". The Wire.
- ^ a b Stephen Lewis and Jennifer Furin (24 March 2019). "India should heed a teenager's historic fight for lifesaving tuberculosis treatment". Stat News.
- ^ a b "Keynote by Stephen Lewis delivered at the 21st Annual Conference of The Union - North America Region, Vancouver, Canada, February 24, 2017" (PDF).