I've had Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection on my to-read list for awhile and finally had the time to get to it on audiobook. The book description says, "Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis."
This was a really interesting read. I knew very little about TB beside the fact that sometimes you have to get a TB test to get a job or something, but I had no idea how widespread it still is in poor countries. I thought John Green made many powerful points about how the cure is where the disease is not and the disease is where the cure is not. He also observes how we in rich countries don't care enough about TB since it doesn't affect us, so there aren't enough resources poured into it. It was an eye-opening book, and I think it's really meaningful that John Green has found a way to use his platform to speak up for people who are suffering from and dying from TB. One of his lines said, "How can I accept a world where over a million people will die this year for want of a cure that has existed for nearly a century?" I'd definitely recommend this book.
Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)
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