Kibong'oto: The History of Global Tuberculosis Control seen through Local Archives

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) and its control have held an important place in global health since the return of the disease came up for discussion in the 1980s. However, this history is as a rule written from the archives of international institutions like the WHO, making it a history of policies rather than of practices. Using local archives facilitates fresh insight. The building of such an archive in northern Tanzania is presented in this paper. Kibong’oto Hospital has existed as a specialized TB hospital since 1926. Its archive offers insight into a history of TB in diagnosis and treatment that is rather different from that of high income countries, and a story seldom told.