Fentanyl and Foreign Policy, India’s Widows, and Tuberculosis Screening in Vietnam

Editor's Note

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the launch of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs. Composed of more than eighty countries, the coalition seeks to strengthen the "global response to the international public health and safety challenges posed by synthetic drugs." This week, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow David P. Fidler unpacks what that coalition means for U.S. domestic and foreign policies. He argues that the United States' longstanding difficulties battling opioid addiction and illicit transnational drug trafficking are now compounded by geopolitics. Before the global coaltion was established, he notes, "the United States and China experienced difficult relations concerning flows of Chinese-made fentanyl and its precursors into the United States." Geopolitical competition between those countries makes collective action against synthetic drugs even "harder to forge."

Turning to India, our next contributor, independent journalist Hussain Mir, uncovers the rise of silicosis deaths among miners in the village of Budhpura, Rajasthan. Silicosis is caused by inhaling the silica dust present in rock, sand, and quartz. However, the disease is not endemic to Budhpura. Deaths from silicosis are widespread across Rajasthan, which has more than 33,000 mines—the most of any state in India—and an estimated 2.5 million miners. As the disease continues to take its toll, Hussain argues that the Rajasthani government should support the wives and families of those workers suffering from silicosis.

Closing out the week, Victoria Lebrun, Mai Thu Hien, and Robert Makombe from FHI 360 showcase Double X, a new technology that could revolutionize tuberculosis treatment in Vietnam, where the disease is the leading cause of death. By integrating new rapid technologies with traditional screening techniques to detect true positive results with fast turnaround time, Double X is on track to replace smear microscopy as a frontline test, transforming efforts to address tuberculosis and bring the world one step closer to ending the disease.

As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky, Editor