The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a stark warning on Wednesday that recent US funding cuts to tuberculosis (TB) programmes could have a devastating impact, putting millions of lives at risk.
Efforts to combat TB, the deadliest infectious disease globally, have saved over 79 million lives in the last two decades, preventing approximately 3.65 million deaths in 2023 alone.
However, the abrupt funding reductions under President Donald Trump’s administration threaten to reverse these gains, particularly affecting the most vulnerable populations, the WHO said.
Since Trump’s return to power in January, the US has implemented sweeping cuts to foreign aid, including a 90-day freeze on US foreign assistance and a dismantling of USAID, which previously provided a quarter of all international donor funding for TB—about $200-$250 million annually.
This disruption jeopardises TB care in 18 of the highest-burden countries, which rely on the US for 89% of their TB funding.
The African region, followed by Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, is the hardest hit by these cuts.
WHO stressed that any disruption in TB services could have fatal consequences, citing over 700,000 excess TB deaths recorded between 2020 and 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tereza Kasaeva, head of WHO’s global TB programme, emphasised that without immediate action, the progress made in fighting TB could be severely undermined, endangering millions of lives.
Additionally, essential services such as drug supply chains and laboratory services have been severely disrupted, and data systems are collapsing, hindering TB prevention and treatment efforts.
WHO also noted that USAID has halted all TB-funded trials, significantly impacting research and innovation in TB treatment.
