Mongolia
Dr. Naranjargal Dashdorj
Dr. Naranjargal Dashdorj has been on a journey for most of her life. She grew up as a nomad in Mongolia with dreams of becoming a surgeon, and studied her way to prestigious universities and training programs in China, the UK and the US. After fulfilling her childhood goal, she was inspired to return to her homeland to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged Mongolians. Today she heads the Onom Foundation, an organization she co-founded to address education and healthcare challenges in Mongolia, including liver disease. Mongolia has the world’s highest rate of liver cancer mortality – and both liver cancer and cirrhosis (late-stage liver scarring) account for 15% of all deaths in the country each year. In September 2014, the foundation and its partners initiated a program in Mongolia aiming to eliminate hepatitis C by 2020. As part of the program, the foundation established the Liver Center, Mongolia’s first nonprofit healthcare facility solely dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and research of liver disease.
Patients travel great distances to see Dr. Naranjargal Dashdorj and her team. One of them is a woman named Tuya, a nomadic camel herder from the Gobi Desert who has liver disease.
Dr. Dashdorj visits the temple where her great-grandfather, a lama (spiritual leader), stored his religious textbook. The Onom Foundation was named after her grandfather, who was also a lama.
Dr. Dashdorj provides medical services on World Hepatitis Day, a global event to raise awareness about viral hepatitis. Viral hepatitis causes liver damage and is responsible for two in every three liver cancer deaths.