The United States was the major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease.

The whole system of finding, diagnosing and treating tuberculosis — which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease — has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia since President Trump ordered the aid freeze on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.

The United States contributed about half of international donor funding to TB last year and here in Kenya paid for everything from nurses to lab equipment. Trump administration officials have said that other countries should contribute a greater share to global health programs. They say administration is evaluating foreign aid contracts to determine whether they are in the national interest of the United States.

While some of the TB programs may ultimately survive, none have received any money for months.

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  • Snot FlickermanEnglish
    23•1 day ago

    The cruelty continues to be the point.

    Let’s not forget that Trump was literally raised to view disease and ill health as “weakness.” So much so that the man who ingrained those ideas into him, his own father, would be viewed by Trump as “weak” on his deathbed. He had no issues taking advantage of his fathers weakness and exploiting it for himself. It’s also why he refuses to admit he is in ill health or old himself. In 2019 he said he was “young and vibrant.” Trump was in his 70’s when he made this remark. He is absolutely fucking delusional and it is rooted in his fear of disease frailty and death.

    It is also rooted in his desire to control and dole out pain, suffering, and death on those he dislikes.

    He is quite literally a dangerous madman.

  • magic_lobster_party
    13•1 day ago

    As John Green put it: we can no longer say that the deaths of tuberculosis are caused by a bacteria. The deaths of tuberculosis are caused by human choice. We have the choice to live in a world where millions don’t die by this treatable disease, but we chose not to.

    I’m eagerly waiting for his upcoming book about this terrible disease.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•1 day ago

      I’m eagerly waiting for his upcoming book about this terrible disease.

      I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer as John probably has to add a few more chapters due to current events …

  • Atelopus-zeteki
    3•1 day ago

    You probably didn’t know that TB stands for Trumpberculosis. Maybe it didn’t before, but moving forward all of the new TB cases should be thought of as stemming from his decision.