At times, pieces of literature can simply signify a paradigm shift within one’s life. For me, I believe this piece might just be Everything is Tuberculosis. This book is simply a work of art; it follows the life of Henry, an impoverished child from Sierra Leone, and his agonizing process of trying to obtain care, offered as a baseline in much of the Western world yet somehow aloof in the locations where it’s needed most. Through this process, Green continues to tie Tuberculosis to the paradoxical historical trends of marginalization and romanticization in relation to views of the disease over centuries. The through line of Henry’s experience helps to serve as a keystone to this book’s rhetoric, with it serving to humanize those suffering from tuberculosis and acting as a conduit to help the reader understand the impact of this disease on the wider world, helping to quantify the millions who still die from the disease every year. It shines a light on the dark side of human nature in nearly every way possible, revealing deeper factors at work within expanding access to care across the world, with all roads leading back to basic failings of capitalism, the need for profit incentive behind nearly any possible philanthropic action. Despite the marginal cost of providing care, many corporations don’t actually see any value in helping to mend the struggles of developing nations, and would rather continue to exploit said nations and simply continue on business as usual. This book’s eloquent analysis and scathing criticism of the status quo help to create a frame of reference not only for developing countries but also for the wider world.
In a time where the simple act of reaching out and helping others means more than ever, this publication helps to create a perfect lens through which to view foreign aid. Throughout the book, Green references major NGOs and international agencies, which have helped to ease the pain of tuberculosis in these developing countries, and illustrate how important these organizations are to trying to pry change from within the status quo. While Green does criticize the actions of these organizations at times, with cost-cutting measures are in place. Such as within the standard treatment for tuberculosis within these developing countries (e.g., colloquially known as DOTS), which uses smear microscopy (which only has a 50% chance of properly diagnosing a patient with tuberculosis) as opposed to X-Ray diagnosis (which has a near infallible chance of properly diagnosing a patient with tuberculosis ), this difference in cost is the only reason why this discrepancy appears between actual treatment and theoretical treatment. Even while the cost of X-Ray diagnosis continues to decrease, it seemingly isn’t enough for it to actually catch on as a possible method for uniform treatment, despite how the care is and has been standard care in developed countries for nearly half a century now. In bringing up these examples, Green can develop a wide picture of the status quo, the organizations that are currently acting to try to bring an end to this endemic disease worldwide, and the next steps these organizations will have to take to help ensure a better future for all individuals, and finally eradicate this disease we’ve had a cure for, for the last seventy years.
While tuberculosis was a subject I seldom pontificated on before reading this book, since reading it, this disease hasn’t been able to leave my mind. The fact that such a large inequality still exists even after a cure has existed for nearly a century now still just baffles me, and the fact that this curable disease is still pervasive within society is just utterly incomprehensible. Yet, the fact that conditions are still improving, despite the lack of any profit motive, truly motivates me. If we truly want to see a future where health inequality is a thing of the past, this work is a necessity, and truly inspires me to see how far we’ve come and saddens me with how far we must still go.
