Cutting USAID Threatens Public Health around the World

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

The U.S. Department of State recently announced plans to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. While some of USAID’s functions will continue under the Department of State, there is real concern that the cuts will jeopardize public health efforts across the world, including immunization programs and other efforts that have saved the lives of millions of children. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman to explore the agency’s lifesaving programs and to discuss the devastating effects that will occur when the U.S. divests from global public health efforts. Recommended reading: USAID Funding Saved Millions of Children’s Lives. Recent Cuts Put It in Jeopardy Watch now: John Green on How Tuberculosis Shaped Our Modern World E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:37.4	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Seltman.
0:51.7	Last Friday, the U.S. State Department formally notified Congress of its plans to dismantle
0:56.7	the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
1:00.7	This move came as no surprise, as USAID has drawn the attention of Elon Musk's U.S. Doge service
1:07.3	since the current administration took office.
1:10.3	While some of USAID's programming
1:12.4	will reportedly be folded into the State Department by July 1st, it's clear that the U.S.
1:17.6	federal government is pulling back from the goals of USAID in a major way. To name just one example,
1:24.1	the administration plans to cease U.S. support for Gavi, an immunization program that
1:29.1	has saved the lives of an estimated 19 million children over the past 25 years, according to the
1:35.0	New York Times. US AID is a massive agency that provides all kinds of assistance all over the
1:41.3	world, so the implications of its dissolution are vast and complex.
1:46.5	Here to talk us through it is Tanya Lewis, a senior health and medicine editor at Scientific American.
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