Green makes a strong case that the title of his book is accurate. Across human history, tuberculosis has been human’s deadliest pathogen. An estimated billion people have died as a result of TB. Green humanizes the disease by focusing on Henry, an adolescent TB patient in Sierra Leone, right away making clear that in poorer parts of the world tuberculosis is still viable and deadly. And of even greater importance, Henry is a gifted poet, responsible son, and warmly loved by doctors and patients throughout the underfunded hospital (now more so since the current administration’s huge cuts to international aid) where he is sequestered. Henry is not just a third-world statistic, though there are more than a million Henrys languishing and dying in poor countries every year.
With skill, Green persuasively clarifies why the disease today, and for much of recent history, is a function of contagious social inequity and injustice, rather than just a bacterium. TB patients can be cured, but only if they live in countries with adequately functioning health systems, roads, housing, and transportation systems, and multinational drug companies release medicines at affordable rates. Patients need to be close to hospitals and have the resources to give up working and pay for their care. They need to have enough money to buy food as undernourishment is a contributor to premature death.
Inherent racism among medical professionals has resulted in massively higher death rates among Africans (“they can’t get TB, because they aren’t fully human”), indigenous peoples, and overworked laborers. Everything is Tuberculosis is a short book that delivers a well-deserved knock to the head.