World Health Organization warns of possible tuberculosis surge because of USAID cuts

Health authorities are calling attention to a looming consequence of the Trump administration’s gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development : the risk of a global surge in tuberculosis cases and deaths.

The World Health Organization warned last week that the sweeping funding cuts could endanger millions of lives, since many countries depend on foreign aid for TB prevention, testing and treatment.

“Without immediate action, hard-won progress in the fight against TB is at risk,” Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO’s Global Programme on TB and Lung Health, said in a statement  Wednesday.

Globally, tuberculosis is responsible for the most deaths of any infectious disease. Around ,1.25 million people died from the bacterial infection in 2023 the latest data available, and new cases hit an all-time high that year, with around , 8.2 million people diagnosedaccording to the WHO.

Until recently, USAID provided about a quarter of the international donor funding for tuberculosis services in other countries — up to $250 million annually, according to the WHO. The agency operated tuberculosis programs in 24 countries.

The WHO said that because of the U.S. funding cuts, drug supply chains in other countries are “breaking down,” laboratory services are “severely disrupted” and surveillance systems are “collapsing,” making it difficult to identify, monitor and treat tuberculosis cases. Some research trials have been halted, as well.

That has incapacitated some national tuberculosis programs, with the WHO warning of devastating impacts in 18 countries with the highest burden of disease, many of which are in Africa.

In Uganda, the rollback of USAID funding has made it hard to pay community health workers, leading to understaffing, said Dr. Luke Davis, a clinical epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. Such workers play a critical role in notifying people who test positive for tuberculosis, getting them treatment and screening their close contacts for infection.

“Patients may get a diagnosis of TB after they’ve left the clinic because they’re waiting for the results, and they may be at home with TB and not know they have TB. There’s literally not the resources to go out and reach those people,” he said. “People are dying because they have disease that hasn’t been diagnosed, hasn’t been treated, hasn’t been prevented.”

Since Jan. 24, the discontinuation of USAID funding may have led to an estimated 3,600 additional tuberculosis deaths and 6,400 additional infections, according to.

 a project modeling the impact of the cuts The model is coordinated by the Stop TB Partnership, a United Nations organization that aims to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem.