Musk's USAID shutdown an attack on most vulnerable

By Lisa Jarvis / Bloomberg Opinion

Over the course of a few days, the rug was pulled out from the federal agency critical to advancing global health. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was, as Elon Musk so callously said, put through the woodchipper.

As the country’s primary international humanitarian and development arm, USAID provides invaluable assistance to more than 100 countries. Yet President Trump has accused it of being run by “lunatic radicals.” Musk has criticized the agency’s $40 billion budget as wasteful, axing funding for programs that amount to less than 1 percent of the federal budget. A staff of more than 10,000 is reportedly being slashed to under 300.

The impact of dismantling USAID can be hard to grasp for anyone not intimately involved in this wonky corner of government. But Americans must pay attention to the incredible harm shutting down the agency will do to vulnerable people worldwide, compromising short- and long-term health abroad; and in the U.S.

Even before Musk took an axe to the agency, its global health partners were reeling from Trump’s 90-day freeze on foreign aid. USAID provides food for starving people who would likely die without it. It keeps the lights on at hospitals in war-torn countries. If local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and philanthropies are unable to step in quickly, expect horrific images to emerge in the coming weeks out of places like Gaza and Sudan.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-musks-usaid-shutdown-an-attack-on-most-vulnerable/