John Green loves hating tuberculosis and I love hating tuberculosis too.
Who is John Green?
John Green is widely known as the bestselling author of novels like The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. But beyond his literary accomplishments, he is a thoughtful advocate for global health and equity. Top of the list being the fight against tuberculosis.
John Green’s Fascination with TB
While researching for this article, I found Green’s own remarks on Reddit commenting on how he got so interested in Tuberculosis. He shared that his passion for ending TB started in the 2018 Project for Awesome (P4A), during which he and Dr. Joia Mukherjee shed light on the reality that tuberculosis was then the world’s deadliest infectious disease. This was a turning point for him and his interest in understanding historical pandemics like cholera and plague in 2020.
Green commented on how Robert Koch’s announcement of the tuberculosis bacterium was accompanied by a note of defensiveness as if the discovery wasn’t “exciting enough.” While societies throughout history had feared the dramatic onset of cholera and plague, TB quietly outpaced them, killing millions. In the early 19th century, TB accounted for nearly 30% of deaths in Europe, a death toll akin to the bubonic plague centuries earlier. And yet, it was often viewed not as a deadly pandemic but as a fate tied to one’s constitution or family history.
Green says there is a persistent neglect of TB. This neglect, he argues, still is responsible for the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of tuberculosis today. It is particularly infuriating, Green notes, because TB is usually curable. And yet, in 2023, over 1.5 million people are expected to die from this disease—a tragedy stemming not from medical impossibility but from systemic inequality and failures in global health priorities.
“I’m not trying to make this into a meme or anything,” Green has said, “but I’m really, really furious that we are still allowing this level of suffering when the tools to stop it already exist.”
His Contributions to Ending TB
John Green has backed his passion with action. He and his family have committed up to $4 million to help fund new TB treatment initiatives, particularly in the Philippines, as part of a broader $57 million project. These funds aim to increase access to testing and treatment for TB, particularly among underserved communities.
Green’s contributions go beyond funding. He has used his platform to amplify awareness of TB and to push for systemic change, that I how I also got to first put a face to the author of some of my favourite books.
John Green at the United Nations
John Green made a speech at the United Nations quoting Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, he drew a parallel between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and tuberculosis: “Where are the drugs? The drugs are where the disease is not. And where is the disease? The disease is where the drugs are not.” TB is not the disease itself that kills millions, but the systems and choices that leave them untreated. The deaths of 1.6 million people annually from tuberculosis are not inevitable, they are the consequence of deliberate, human-built systems. “We are choosing a world where 1.6 million people die of tuberculosis,” he said. “But we can choose a world where no one dies of tuberculosis.”
There is more to this topic than my count can accommodate. John Green is to publish his book on Tuberculosis soon. I look forward to writing my commentary on it.