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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/26/australia-must-step-up-avoid-loss-life-amid-trump-cuts-tom-frieden-former-cdc>
"Australia must “step up to prevent catastrophic and preventable loss of life”
after US funding cuts to national and global health programs and institutions,
a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Dr Tom Frieden, who served as director of the CDC until 2017 under Barack
Obama, spoke to
Guardian Australia about what countries that share close
partnerships with the US need to do after a series of executive actions and
cuts under president Donald Trump.
From day one of his second term in office, Trump sought to freeze foreign aid,
including dissolving the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
He ordered that the US withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO);
proposed a more than 50% reduction in CDC funding; eliminated 2,400 CDC jobs
(about 700 of those roles have since been reinstated), and slashed the staff
and budgets of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes
of Health (NIH).
In February, the anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr was appointed as the
US secretary of health and human services, despite holding no formal health
credentials, and has since pushed vaccine misinformation. Since then, more than
US$1bn in funding cuts have been made to Gavi, a global alliance that helps buy
vaccines for the world’s poorest children.
“The CDC has long been a cornerstone of collaboration, information sharing,
expertise and rapid response capacity,” Frieden says.
“When those systems are dismantled, there can be life-and-death global
consequences. The US decision to stop funding Gavi and cut other global health
programs is heartbreaking and could cost millions of lives, especially of
children.”"
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
