<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jul/01/obama-bush-trump-usaid-closure-lancet-report-warns-extra-deaths>
"Barack Obama and George W Bush have criticised the closure of the US Agency
for International Development (USAID), as a study warned it could result in “a
staggering number” of avoidable deaths – more than 14 million over five years.
The former US presidents made rare public criticisms of the Trump
administration as they took part in a video farewell for USAID staffers on
Monday on its last day as an independent organisation.
In March, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that 83% of USAID’s
programmes had been cancelled. The agency is being folded into the state
department, where it is to be replaced by a successor organisation called
America First.
A study published in the
Lancet found the cuts could cause more than 14
million additional deaths by 2030, with a third of those among children.
USAID funding for health care, nutrition, humanitarian aid, development,
education and related sectors have helped prevent more than 91 million deaths
in low- and middle-income countries over the past two decades, the
multinational group of researchers calculated.
They concluded: “Unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in
the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths
could occur by 2030.”
For many of the world’s poorer countries “the resulting shock would be similar
in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict”, they said, but “would
stem from a conscious and avoidable policy choice”.
“From our experience on the ground, we have witnessed how USAID support has
strengthened local health systems’ ability to respond to diseases like HIV,
malaria, and tuberculosis,” said Francisco Saúte, general director at the
Manhiça Health Research Centre and co-author of the study. “Cutting this
funding now not only puts lives at risk –it also undermines critical
infrastructure that has taken decades to build.”
The researchers said reductions in spending by other international donors would
potentially lead to even more additional deaths.
USAID was founded six decades ago by president John F Kennedy and had, until
recently, enjoyed broad bipartisan support."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
