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USAID funding freeze disrupts global tuberculosis control efforts
- andy_ppp 2y agoI don’t understand what bubble Elon Musk is living in where the ruthless slashing of USAID spending won’t have huge negative repercussions for the US. I think the rest of the world will withdraw from trusting the US after this and other actions. A lot of trust in the world leadership positions the US takes are being torched by these vandals right now and while I hope for an amazing US comeback in 4 years it looks a lot more like China will step in as a stable partner for a lot of countries after an almost complete betrayal of western values.
- lasc4r 2y agoRepercussions? That's for people who expect to be held accountable for their actions.
- bloopernova 2y agoWho benefits from the world no longer trusting the USA? putin.
- sundaeofshock 2y agoAnd China. Don’t forget China.
- FirmwareBurner 2y agoWhat trust? Other governments trust the USA as much as people trust Facebook to deliver them non brain rot content or McDonalds to serve them a healthy nutritious meal. Countries have a mutually beneficial relationship with the US out of need(world's biggest economy and consumer market), out of fear(world's biggest military), and out o necessity (Russia and China being worse alternatives) not out of trust. Basically, Realpolitik. Trump didn't move the needle on that front at all despite the optics in the eyes of the plebs. If by some hypothetical scenario, tomorrow the US would disappear from the world and its status as the leading world super-power be replaced by a country like Russia or China, then the other countries on the planet would kiss their ring, just as how in a herd/pack all the males succumb to the alpha male. It's nothing to do with trust, it's all to do with power and influence.
- Hasu 2y agoTalk to any Canadian and tell me that trust in the US as an ally hasn't been irreparably damaged. Global geopolitics are complicated. It's true on some level that no one trusts anyone else, but relative levels of trust still matter. There aren't many superpowers out there, if the US is seen as unreliable, China and the EU can step in and replace US influence. This has been happening in Africa for a couple decades or so, with China becoming increasingly influential. These actions will drive US allies into partnerships with our rivals, which will make the US weaker. Everyone on both sides of the aisle understood this from 1946-2016.
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago>Talk to any Canadian and tell me that trust in the US as an ally hasn't been irreparably damaged. Firstly, I have no sympathy here. If you trust any foreign government that's not accountable to you to begin with, that's on you. The upshot is that this serves as a good lesson and wake-up call for Canadians and for us in EU as well that we need to start pulling our weight in the world and looking out for our own interests instead of letting ourselves at the mercy of foreign powers. People need to learn lessons the hard way on their own skin if they're too stupid to learn from past history, like how Czechoslovakia was fucked over by its allies in WW2 and gave to Hitler on a platter. Don't rely on supposed allies to fight your battles, look out for yourself. That's why I'm a big fan of the Swiss's neutrality system and France's post-WW2 nuclear deterrent program. A strong military is better than stronger allies that can change their mind. And secondly, nothing is ever irreparably damaged. 80 years ago Japan and US were at war and for over 50 years they've been strong allies. Canada also invaded the US in 1814 and burned down the White House and yet they've been each other closest allies after that. Similarly, in 20 years Russia could be the west's best friend. So relationships between countries change all the time based on how the wind blows. Nothing ever lasts forever, only gullible fools with no understanding of history try to hang onto such idealistic beliefs.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoThe Swiss trust their neighbors in most things. They have extensive trading relationships with their neighbors, many treaties and relatively open borders. There military is structured under the assumption their neighbors won't invade.
- sharemywin 2y agocrypto why do you think their doing this.
- pauloday 2y agoHe's not interested in helping anyone but himself. IDK how stopping this stuff helps him exactly, but his actions make a lot more sense if you look at them through that lens. Negative repercussions for the US aren't necessarily negative for him, or they may be outweighed by something positive for him.
- jghn 2y ago1) Elon isn't a fraction as bright as he thinks he is 2) Elon suffers from extreme Dunning-Kruger 3) His boss only cares about adulation & retribution 4) Their enablers are willing to sit on the sideline as the side effects are destroying their political opposition
- lawn 2y agoOligarchs don't care about other people or even the country. They're so rich that they're isolated from any negative fallout (and they'll try to benefit from them too).
- andy_ppp 2y ago$400m state department Cyber Truck order says cost cutting is going superbly. Definitely no conflicts of interest here!
- yibg 2y agoSeems to be consistent with Musk's MO. Cut first then (maybe) measure.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- BobaFloutist 2y agoCut twice, measure once?
- diob 2y agoThere's always money to be made from things failing or instability unfortunately. There's a reason they want to cause the economy to crash.
- sharemywin 2y agocrypto. and network states. curtis yarvin.
- andy_ppp 2y agoHaha, crypto is great while there is money for pure speculation. Only Gold will hold it's value.
- bluefirebrand 2y ago> I think the rest of the world will withdraw from trusting the US after this and other actions The USA currently has a problem where a large portion of the US population no longer trusts the USA. That population shifts depending on whichever group is in charge of the federal government Maybe this is not the way to repair that trust, I don't know. But I think for a lot of people, "Stop sending tons of our tax money to other countries" is a step to repair some of that trust with the population The next step would have to be "start re-investing that money back into America" but we'll see if that actually happens
- aprilthird2021 2y ago> But I think for a lot of people, "Stop sending tons of our tax money to other countries" is a step to repair some of that trust with the population Yes, bingo. On both sides, people have become extremely sick of seeing "billions of dollars sent to X" in the news knowing that we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid
- davidw 2y agoExcept that foreign aid is a tiny part of the US budget.
- mplanchard 2y ago> we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid 21% of the federal budget goes to Social Security (aid) 16% goes to medicare (aid) 10% goes to other health spending (probably at least partially aid -- edit: further research shows that of this, around 90% is some kind of aid) 7% goes to income security (aid) 4% goes to veteran services (aid) 3% goes to education, training, employment, and social services (aid) 1.5% goes to natural resources and environment (aid) 1% goes to community and regional development (aid) 1% goes to foreign aid We are already spending a huge portion of our budget on various kinds of domestic aid, the majority of it in fact. Edit to add, data from 2024, source here: https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function
- perihelions 2y ago- "torched by these vandals" That's such an apt phrase. It goes back to the time Rome was a great and prosperous civilization, and there was a barbarian tribe–"Vandals" is a proper name–who were incompatible with kind of high civilization, who rode into a weakened Rome and looted various treasures they liked. And torched the rest. It's an apt language to talk about people who seemingly don't comprehend the value of the institutions America built up over a century, the deep soft power behind them; who see only fistfuls of cash that can be grabbed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(455) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(455)
- throwway120385 2y agoI find it particularly ironic that adherents to Ayn Rand elected a bunch of political looters who don't apparently care about the rule of law.
- know-how 2y ago[dead]
- Marazan 2y agoElon lives in a far-right conspiracy bubble. USAID is a bogeyman for that "community"
- redleader55 2y agoWhy is the US contribution so critical to anything outside the US when there so many other rich countries that could pick up the slack? Does this mean that besides US no one else cares? I can't believe that's true.
- EA-3167 2y agoIt's been interesting seeing Western European NGO's struggle to find funding without USAID as well. I don't like Trump, I don't like much of what he's doing, but this at least has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. While the US is rich and should provide what it can, the degree to which the rest of the world (and the rest of the West) has clearly just shrugged and let us carry them is... interesting.
- gadders 2y agoWait until you hear about NATO (and I say this as a Brit).
- EA-3167 2y agoI see that as different, it is first and foremost an American project, born from a conflict between superpowers. I don't think the same is true about global charity.
- hkpack 2y agoIt's not charity, it's a need that will be fulfilled by someone anyway. China is already offering their funds for everyone affected by USAID shutdown.
- ivewonyoung 2y agoIt was a conflict between Communism/Socialism and Capitalism on the world stage and the proxy wars were fought over those ideologies. Now that communism is mostly recognized as a dead end, I wonder if the world order will slowly re-align. Socialism is taking off with Gen Z(see Reddit) so maybe the next administration will be socialist with AOC, Warren and Bernie.
- Red_Tarsius 2y agoFor context: Tuberculosis treatment requires strict, months-long medication adherence. Even a brief disruption means patients may not complete their courses, allowing drug-resistant TB to emerge. These strains are far harder and more expensive to treat, spreading across borders and undoing decades of progress.
- perihelions 2y agoThe brief (?) interruption to PEPFAR (Bush's HIV/AIDS aid program) has major impacts too. One of the plainest ones is that infants with HIV can, if anti-retrovirals are paused, die more or less right away. - "In children who acquired H.I.V. at birth, the infection can progress very quickly to illness, with death occurring as early as eight to 12 weeks after birth — shorter than the 90-day pause on foreign aid." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/health/trump-usaid-pepfar.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/health/trump-usaid-pepfar... ("Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without H.I.V. Treatment")
- mplanchard 2y agoThis article by Scott Alexander (Money Saved By Canceling Programs Does Not Immediately Flow To The Best Possible Alternative) talks a fair bit about how effective this program is: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/money-saved-by-canceling-programs https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/money-saved-by-canceling-pr... It also makes the point that, under some reasonable assumptions, you could assume that any domestic program you could theoretically redirect the funding to would likely be ~100x less effective than PEPFAR, which is an abnormally effective aid program.
- perihelions 2y agoReasonable assumptions would not assume you to assuming the US' top medical bureaucrat being a conspiracy theorist who denies the existence of HIV (and asserts AIDS is environmental and that anti-retroviral drugs are dangerous toxins). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.#HIV/AIDS_denialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.#HIV/AIDS... ("Robert F. Kennedy Jr.#HIV/AIDS denialism") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Anthony_Fauci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Anthony_Fauci https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/rfk-aids-hiv-hhs-donald-trump/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/rfk-aids-hiv-hh... https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/opinion/kennedys-views-on-science-are-too-dangerous-for-us-to-accept.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/opinion/kennedys-views-on...
- lasc4r 2y agoI think the goal is to destroy US soft power on the way to undermining the rule of law and destroying what passes for a rules-based international order. Once that's done they can really get busy stamping out democracy.
- EA-3167 2y agoI don't think USAID is the core of US soft power, Hollywood is. Our tech industry is. Our food and our language and the way our culture seeps into everything is. If USAID and aid to places in much of Africa was our soft power, I'd expect to see a lot less pivoting to China and Russia in those places. On that note, perhaps the countries that decided to invite Wagner or enter the Chinese BRI can ask their new friends for some TB meds?
- sharemywin 2y agomaybe they can house some nuke bases there too.
- r00fus 2y agoUSAID is the vehicle to paying news/entertainment industry.
- thecuntdaniel 2y ago[flagged]
- aprilthird2021 2y agoI do think it's crazy the degree to which the entire world seems to rely on us. And our own politicians are the ones who have sent our hard-earned billions of dollars away to foreign countries, many of whom feign being allies but really provide us with no benefit at all
- ModernMech 2y agoThe US's vast wealth depends on keeping other countries dependent on us; if they weren't so dependent, they wouldn't be so compliant.
- aprilthird2021 2y agoWe'll find out soon if this is true or not.
- inverted_flag 2y agoThat USAID was Trump and Musk's first target after taking office is peculiar. They made no mention of it during the campaign and most people were unaware of it's existence until a couple weeks ago. The only group with any strong negative opinion of USAID is foreign adversaries.
- jjtheblunt 2y ago> The only group with any strong negative opinion of USAID is foreign adversaries. What about American taxpayers of the "maga" persuasion?
- throwway120385 2y agoMy SO suggested that USAID was a target because during the elimination of Apartheid in South Africa it was a critical component of empowering the black population there. Elon Musk's family apparently lost a lot of their political power as a result of that, and this might be payback. It's similar to why a lot of people thought George W. Bush rolled invading Iraq into his plan to take down Al-Qaeda despite Iraq not apparently harboring them.
- sharemywin 2y agoI know farmers hate it with all those billions of $ in extra cash from selling food that was going to waste anyway. I'm sure the rural communities will hate it too when all that money isn't going to the love communities either.
- jghn 2y agoThey're already whining about it [1]. All that'll wind up happening is some sort of shell game and we'll still be subsidizing the midwest red voters. [1]https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2025/02/11/kansas-congressmans-bill-would-move-usaids-food-for-peace-to-usda/78387604007/ https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2025...
- throwway120385 2y ago
- know-how 2y ago[dead]
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoWe're on track for TB to become a problem again, even in the west. Global eradication efforts were put on massive pause during covid. Some governments are downplaying the issue to appear on track to meet arbitrary eradication deadlines. It's been cropping up around North America. Just as a reminder, there isn't an effective vaccine (BCG is not what we would consider a modern vaccine). Current treatment regimen is 6 months daily antibiotics. Throw in any complications (paradoxical reactions, resistance) and get ready for that to become much longer. I had watched a loved one suffer from this disease. The pills were huge. Waiting too long to start treatment causes a lot of complications. These aren't well understood, given the massive TB funding deficits. Even when the disease is cleared from your lungs, it leaves plenty of things behind. If you or somebody you know is coughing persistently for weeks, losing weight, has evening fevers, just get the quantiferon gold test. Be persistent with your doctor, just mention past TB exposure. Your insurance should cover it. Don't wait around months trying to look at every other avenue. It'll look very similar to aspergillosis on x-rays.
- OutOfHere 2y agoThe TB that does exist out there in the world is increasingly multi-drug resistant, which means most antibiotics won't work on it. Once it starts spreading abroad and later in the US, a lot like Covid did, it's game over.