Controversial Study Links IMF Loans to a Rise in Tuberculosis Deaths

A new study has found that countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that accepted International Monetary Fund loans in the 1990s had an immediate increase in tuberculosis cases, and more people died from the disease. The study's authors argue that the strict conditions of the loans, which often call for "austerity measures," may have caused governments to slash health services, thus bringing about the surge in TB cases.