Alexa and I read “Everything is Tuberculosis” by John Green earlier in the year and we were both deeply affected. We were surprised to learn that tuberculosis is still the world’s deadliest infectious disease, despite being curable and treatable. Tuberculosis continues to be among the leading causes of death in developing countries, including in the Philippines, where Alexa grew up.

Unfortunately, the persistence of TB is the product of inequity, poverty, malnutrition, and health system failures. Effective treatment for TB has existed since the 1950s, but many people can’t access it – largely due to cost, logistics, social stigma, and collective will. [Separately when reading the book, I was thinking about our healthcare investment thesis at Generation, which maintains that there is largely enough “stuff” [buildings/machines/doctors/patients/treatments] in the healthcare system, but that poor connectivity, allocation, and incentives continue to make the system unsustainable].

Partners in Health (PIH), for whom John Green is a trustee, has been working to eradicate TB for over 20 years in developing countries. PIH has focused on treating and preventing TB and its more severe, drug-resistant variants, and co-infections of HIV and TB. Their work has resulted in some of the highest cure rates and lowest treatment default rates ever recorded.

Alexa and I are running the Monterey Bay Half Marathon (our first race!) on November 9 to raise money for Partners in Health – specifically aimed at supporting their work on TB. We’d be so grateful for your support. The Generation Foundation will double match the total fundraised amount.