Controlling Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in North Korea and China: An Agenda for a New Foreign Policy

Rates of tuberculosis, a disease that thrives on poverty, malnutrition and interrupted medical care, are now among the highest in the world in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea), elevating the risk of an epidemic of drug-resistant strains and a spread into China. This project represents a unique historical opportunity to examine the relationship between food security, malnutrition and the epidemiology of tuberculosis in a present-day famine.