Black Angels remind us of centuries of injustices plaguing the TB response

Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant-CNS
Contd from previous issue
Dr Edward and Dr Irving received the prestigious Lasker Award for their work, but the Black Angel nurses and support staff who risked their lives to help conduct the study, did not receive the same recognition.
This real story of isoniazid study and how Black Angel nurses were made to slip on the blind-spot when it came to awards and re-cognitions, was one of the drivers for Maria to write the book.
“Black women in Science had been erased from this narrative. I am not saying that the men do not deserve the accolades, which they received, but the women who helped conduct these studies, also deserved it. In fact, Dr Edward Robitzek had said: 'had it not been for the Black nurses, none of this would have been able to happen'."
Maria reflects on the inequities plaguing our health systems even today. “We have a two-tiered healthcare system,” she says, referring to a small number of rich privileged elites who can get best of healthcare services while the majority of human population struggles to access even the basic healthcare.
Agrees Ela Gandhi: “Unless we have proper living conditions for everyone, along with safe housing, just wages, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, how will we prevent diseases that lack of these basic necessities puts people at risk (such as TB)? We must end poverty and hunger and ensure everyone has equitable access to healthcare services in a rights-based manner.
“Racial inequities and injustices continue to plague the TB response even today. Most of the TB burden is in poor countries (low- and middle-income countries) in the Global South. Even in the rich Nations, margina- lised communities are at higher risk of TB”, says Tariro Kutadza, TB and HIV community leader from Zimbabwe.
Kutadza lauds Virginia Allen and all other Black Angel nurses who took care of the patients without any prejudice or discrimination 100 years ago. They did justice to their duty and humanity by taking care of all TB patients regardless of whether they were white or black or brown; whether they were Americans or Latinos or from any part of the world; whether they were rich or poor. The accountability needle and question is pointing towards all other nurses - white nurses in this context - who stayed away from serving their duty and the cause of TB, she said.
We can end TB only if we end inequity, inequality and injustice. If we can ensure access for everyone to the full range of best of TB services in a people-centred and rights-based manner, then only we will be able to move towards ending TB. When we say, "all lives matter," then does this include lives of us in the Global South also, wonders, Tariro.
Agrees Maria Smilios: “TB is a disease for which we say that it is curable - and add in the same sentence that 'it is a leading infectious disease killer in the world.' If we have a cure, then how come TB is a top killer infectious disease today?” It is because of inequities and injustices that plague our societies where ‘some are more equal than others’ when it comes to access to health and rights. “Health inequities exist because we continue to ignore other people.”
While many scientific advances have been made since the times of the Black Angels for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care of people with TB, they are still not available to 1.1 million people today who died from it and 10.8 million people who got infected with TB last year. Unless we end all forms of inequities and injustices that plague our health and social services and bridge the deadly divide between rich and the poor, we will not only fail to end TB but instead force people to live in risky situations that put them at risk of TB and TB deaths-and face a range of other human rights violations. It is high time we make the right choice grounded in human rights, racial equity and development justice.


(Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant co-lead the editorial of Citizen News Service and both are on the Boards of Global Antimicrobial Resistance Media Alliance (GAMA) – which won the 2024 AMR One Health Emerging Leaders and Outstanding Talents Award 2024, as well as on the Board of Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media). Shobha also taught physics at prestigious Loreto College for over 3 decades.)