Prithi (name changed to protect privacy) lay restless on the floor of her dwelling in a northern Indian village feeling like she was being devoured from the inside. The gnawing hunger that had plagued her life as a girl aged 15 years was now accompanied by nightly fever. The knobs of her spine clearly visible through her threadbare tunic, she coughed relentlessly. She had no energy for domestic chores—her responsibility since her mother died of tuberculosis in 2024.
Prithi (name changed to protect privacy) lay restless on the floor of her dwelling in a northern Indian village feeling like she was being devoured from the inside. The gnawing hunger that had plagued her life as a girl aged 15 years was now accompanied by nightly fever. The knobs of her spine clearly visible through her threadbare tunic, she coughed relentlessly. She had no energy for domestic chores—her responsibility since her mother died of tuberculosis in 2024.