It was not until the year 2000 that HIV/AIDS overtook tuberculosis (TB) as the world’s leading infectious disease cause of adult deaths. In terms of attention, it seems that HIV/AIDS has also dominated the target of international funding at a time where the World Health Organization has estimated that the average incidence of TB in African countries has more than doubled. The latest allocation of PEPFAR funds devotes just $4 billion out of the total $50 billion towards treating and preventing TB. In recognition of this, the New England Journal of Medicine last week devoted their perspective section to this issue, talking not just about the spread of TB, but the interrelatedness of AIDS, TB, and other diseases.

Aid groups should not just look at the interrelatedness between AIDS and TB. Last time I checked the key to a healthy human being was not only access to lifesaving medicines, but also food and clean water. So when we only try a vertically integrated solution to solve a narrow scope of the overall global health crisis, we only divert pressure from one area to the others.

To be sure, the WHO has a great TB team put together and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation/Clinton Global Initiative partnership have put in place projects not just to treat TB, but to improve public health in all areas possible. I also understand that many NGOs/initiatives have limited funds and cannot fund such comprehensive care. But what we do need is systemic thinking, not narrowly scoped projects that do not consider other effects that hinder their very initiative to solve problems. Hopefully, NEJM and others will continue to shed light on the other growing crises we face that can be implemented with the same infrastructure as the programs already in place to fight AIDS.