14/04/2025
🌍 When Trade Hurts Health: The Silent Threat to Infection Control
By Heather Stoltzfus, MPH, RN, CIC
We often associate infection control with protocols, PPE, and behavior change. But behind these tools lies an even more fragile foundation: global trade and economic policy. And today, that foundation is cracking.
🔻 In many low- and middle-income countries, over 70% of pharmaceuticals are imported.
🔻 New tariffs, aid freezes, and currency crises are driving up costs—putting antibiotics, disinfectants, gloves, and sterile tools out of reach.
🔻 Prevention programs are being scaled back. Clinics are turning away patients. HIV meds are being rationed. IPC is being sacrificed.
Infection prevention isn't just a clinical responsibility—it’s a global policy issue.
🗣️ As a healthcare community, we must raise our voices:
• Advocate for fair trade that doesn’t punish vulnerable health systems
• Push for sustained and protected global health funding
• Support local production and resilience in the Global South
Because when infection control breaks down in one country, everyone is at risk.
📎 Full article via Infection Control Today:
https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/when-trade-hurts-health-how-tariffs-and-economic-pressure-threaten-infection-control-in-low-and-middle-income-countries