The Lancet, the world-renowned British medical journal that publishes evidence-based scientific papers on medical topics each week, posted an article on April 8 titled, simply, “The Effects of Reductions in United States Foreign Assistance on Global Health.”
The article, authored by 27 scientists from around the globe, is the first such in-depth examination of what the real-world human impact will be of the Trump administration abruptly halting the United States’ vast aid network to the world’s poor and suffering in January.
It didn’t address all areas of foreign aid that have been shut off like a spigot; it didn’t get into food and nutrition assistance, for instance. Instead, it zeroed in on four areas in which the U.S. has for decades focused its international medical aid, specifically: the care and prevention of H.I.V. and tuberculosis, family planning, and maternal and child health.
The results are disturbing in the extreme: “A complete cessation of U.S. funding without replacement by other sources of funding would lead to dramatic increases in deaths from 2025 to 2040,” the article states. Unless this funding is returned or replaced by aid from other nations, an estimated 15.2 million more people will die from AIDS and 2.2 million more from tuberculosis; 7.9 million more children will die from other medical causes; there will be 40 to 55 million additional unplanned pregnancies and 12 to 16 million unsafe abortions.
Turning off the flow of American aid — suddenly and with no contingency plan — is killing a lot of people. Innocents displaced by war in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan are dying of disease. Right now. Toddlers denied oral-rehydration salts and immunizations in Bangladesh are dying. Babies and mothers denied birthing care in Ethiopia and Nepal are dying. To halt lifesaving aid with zero contingency plan is not just bungling, it is the definition of cruelty.
America has abdicated its moral responsibility. We call on you to ask yourself: Is this who we are?