The World Health Organization has warned that funding cuts by the United States will have "a devastating impact" on programmes battling tuberculosis, endangering millions of lives.
Global efforts targeting the world's deadliest infectious disease have saved more than 79 million lives in the past two decades, preventing around 3.65 million deaths last year alone, the United Nations health agency said.
However, the "abrupt funding cuts" to most US foreign aid spending since President Donald Trump returned to power in January "threaten to undo these hard-won gains, putting millions - especially the most vulnerable - at grave risk," according to the WHO.
The warning came as the US Supreme Court rejected Mr Trump's bid to freeze $2 billion (€1.86bn) in foreign aid payments.
He signed an executive order on his first day in office stopping all overseas funding for 90-days while a review is conducted.
President Trump has essentially dismantled USAID (United States Agency for International Development).
The WHO said that data it had received from the US government, national TB programmes and other sources showed the United States had been providing approximately a quarter of total international donor funding for TB - around $200-250 million (€185-230m) a year.
"The 2025 funding cuts will have a devastating impact on TB programmes," the agency warned, highlighting the situation in low- and middle-income nations that rely heavily on international aid.
"These cuts put 18 of the highest-burden countries at risk, as they depended on 89% of the expected US funding for TB care," it said.
The African region was hardest hit by the funding disruptions, the WHO said, followed by the south-east Asia and western Pacific areas.
"Any disruption to TB services - whether financial, political, or operational - can have devastating and often fatal consequences for millions worldwide," WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme Director Tereza Kasaeva said.
The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated this, she added, pointing to the more than 700,000 excess deaths from tuberculosis recorded between 2020 and 2023.
"Without immediate action, hard-won progress in the fight against TB is at risk," Ms Kasaeva said.
The WHO said that "in these challenging times" it "remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting national governments, civil society and global partners in securing sustained funding and integrated solutions to safeguard the health and well-being of those most vulnerable to TB".
