Goldfeld hopes to return to Afghanistan later this spring to begin the treatment program but faces several challenges.

For one, the United Nations’ efforts to begin repatriation of the refugees by this summer will complicate the tuberculosis problem in Afghanistan.

Refugees must continue taking their medicine during the entire six months, even while they return to their homes. To monitor their patients, Goldfeld and the ARC hope to create a computerized tracking system to make sure patients continue to take their medicine even if they are on the move.

Goldfeld also hopes to focus on Afghanistan’s most vulnerable community—women who are disproportionately afflicted with tuberculosis.

One possible solution is to train local female health workers to make home visits to recognize and treat female tuberculosis patients, who often go undiagnosed.

Goldfeld also hopes to bring a high quality microbiology lab to Afghanistan—the ultimate marriage of university research resources and public health service—where locals could be trained to diagnose and treat tuberculosis, as well as test for drug resistance.

Doctoring Without Borders

During her stay in Afghanistan, Goldfeld says she profession, rather than her nationality or gender, became her primary identity.

“I felt no animosity from the Afghan people, either as an American or a woman,” she says.

One of the people she encountered—a woman who had lost her husband, brother, and eldest son in the U.S. bombings—expressed only gratitude to the American doctor who treated her son for burns at the refugee camp.

“One is continually inspired by the strength and humanity of the people you meet,” Goldfeld says. “It’s always a privilege to be in a situation where you can do something positive.”

—Staff writer M. Helene van Wagenberg can be reached at mvan@fas.harvard.edu.