Tuberculosis Doesn't Pause

I spent 10 years as a tuberculosis doctor working in the US and worldwide. Recent funding cuts to global?TB?programs aren't just stalling progress—they're actively reversing decades of advances against the world's deadliest infectious disease.

The New York Times reports?devastating consequences?in Kenya where critical infrastructure collapsed when funding disappeared. Simple yet vital services vanished overnight:

• $1 motorbike rides that transported sputum samples to labs stopped
• $35 monthly stipends for community health workers ended
• $80 tests needed to monitor drug side effects became unaffordable
• Drug shipments halted when transport funding disappeared

The article highlights?TB?Champions like Doreen Kikuyu, who now walks miles to reach patients and uses personal funds to send samples for testing. In Nairobi, Barack Odima, who has extensively drug-resistant?TB, couldn't access life-saving medication when he went for a refill. Five children in one family sleep under the same blanket while waiting for test results that may never come.

This crisis extends far beyond Kenya. In Bangladesh, another high-burden country, USAID programs had diagnosed nearly 18,000 children with?TB?and over 130,000 adults who would have otherwise gone undetected. With funding cuts, diagnostic capacity has plummeted. The country's specialized programs for high-risk groups—like the 14,300 people with both diabetes and?TB—have been eliminated. Drug-resistant?TB?detection and treatment, which relied heavily on U.S. support, has ground to a halt.

The consequences will be severe and long-lasting. Undiagnosed?TB cases will continue to spread infection. Drug-resistant strains will multiply when treatment is interrupted.?Research shows?that for every dollar invested in fighting?TB, there's a $39 return. Put simply, every dollar cut now will cost exponentially more later—both in healthcare expenses and human lives.

TB?is an airborne disease that doesn't recognize borders.?TB?doesn't need a visa. When drug-resistant?TB?goes untreated abroad, it can reach American shores. Treating a single case of multidrug-resistant?TB?in the U.S. can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars—far more than prevention efforts overseas.

TB?is preventable and curable with proper resources. Although?reforms are needed, dismantling effective systems puts everyone at risk, regardless of where they live. The disease doesn't pause while funding decisions are debated—it spreads.