Harare, Zimbabwe – Natasha Gwashure looks at tuberculosis ravaging the frail body of his son Anashe. He has been sick for over a month. Gwashure is struggling to accept the diagnosis. His only comfort is that they have access to free drugs.
“Without this support, the chances of default on treatment due to monetary constraints would have been much higher,” she said.
For years, the United States agency for international development is on the front line of the TB Battle of Zimbabwe, providing critical support for detection, processing and prevention. But this rescue buoy is now in balance because an American executive decree threatens to undermine the years of progress, potentially forcing patients, like the son of Gwashure, to abandon rescue treatments.
Tuberculosis is a particularly vicious disease. Left untreated, the mortality rate is around 50%. It spreads easily, when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or even sings or speaks.
President Donald Trump published a decree on January 20, his first day of power, to suspend almost all international aid. This includes the USAID programs, which administer the health of life and other services around the world.
The recent freeze freeze leaves a huge gap in Zimbabwe, where almost all funding for the treatment of tuberculosis come from international donors. Only 4% of this funding is domestic.
In 2024, USAID allocated US $ 7 million for the treatment of tuberculosis, screening and other interventions necessary for Zimbabwe. Despite decades of medical progress, tuberculosis is always unleashed around the world. Tuberculosis assigned 10.8 million people in 2023; 1.3 million of them were children.
In Zimbabwe, the battle against tuberculosis reveals a health care system that has trouble following. In 2021, just over half of around 30,000 new infections received treatment.
The human cost of the abolition of USAID programs is already obvious here. Hospitals that have once benefited from health programs supported by the United States are now faced with increasing pressure because health workers supported by these initiatives have been forced to work.
A local nurse, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals, says that an already too extensive health care system is tense. She says that the nurses previously financed by organizations supported by the USAID, who mainly dealt with patients with HIV, tuberculosis and other diseases, have ceased to stand at work. And what was managed by a complete team of nurses now only falls on a handful.
The frost began to dismantle the TB -TB of Zimbabwe TB. New Start Center – Once an cornerstone installation, providing essential tests for the number of CD4s, screening, diagnosis and the tuberculosis advice – has already become dark, its doors closed while the financing of the dry.
Noah Taruberekera, Executive Director of Population Solutions for Health, who relied on the support of the USAID to these centers, recognizes the disastrous challenges that patients and health care providers are now confronted. He says he is not allowed to share additional details.
The financing crisis collapses beyond the control of tuberculosis, throwing a shadow on HIV programs – a critical concern since tuberculosis is attacking in particular those who lived HIV. Although effective antiretroviral therapy can reduce the risk of developing tuberculosis, continuous screening and preventive measures are vital for those who lived HIV.
HIV co-infection affects 68% of tuberculosis cases in Zimbabwe, but the national government only covers 7% of the required tuberculosis budget. International donors contribute to 60%, leaving a significant financing gap.
Despite the assembly challenges, Dr Fungai Kavenga, deputy director of tuberculosis and prevention control of the Ministry of Health and Care-Enfants of the Government, remains full of hope.
“If the support of donors decreases, I am convinced that the government of Zimbabwe can always ensure a regular supply of treatment of patients with tuberculosis,” he said.
But Barbara Samu, a tuberculosis patient receiving care at the Beatrice Road infectious disease hospital, underlines the critical role of donor support. She received free medication because USAID supported the hospital.
“I can’t even start imagining where I would find money for treatment,” she said. “I would be confronted with a death sentence.”
