The Harm Done by Dismantling USAID
The Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) abruptly in February, placing nearly all of its over 10,000 employees on administrative leave, freezing appropriated funds, and cancelling nearly 5,800 USAID-managed foreign assistance awards—effectively closing an agency that has led in global humanitarian assistance since it was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Shutting down the agency has dealt a devastating blow to low- and middle-income countries’ efforts to alleviate poverty, provide health care, and improve public health and education. USAID supported a wide variety of critical global programs, including family planning, disease prevention and treatment, immunizations, and famine relief. Nurses played a critical role in USAID, providing education and training to strengthen severely limited in-country nursing and midwifery workforces, delivering direct care, and leading immunization and other health programs.
Deadly results.
A child in Tajikistan receives a polio vaccination during a campaign to halt a polio outbreak. Photo: USAID, via Wikimedia Commons
An estimated 119,000 children and 57,000 adults have died as a result of USAID funding cuts, according to a real-time tracking tool developed by Boston University associate […]