Cuts, Tariffs, and Tightening Borders – Trump's United States and Global Health

It’s been a dire year for global health. Almost as soon as he took office as president of the United States, Donald Trump said he would withdraw the country from membership in the World Health Organization (WHO), he fired almost everyone at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and slashed staffing and budgets at U.S. health agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The United States government also says it plans to end funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and has cut some funding for the United Nations World Food Program's efforts to feed millions of people in 14 countries.

Before Trump, the United States was the largest donor to global health in the world, contributing about US$12 billion in funding. That’s less than 1 percent of the United States federal budget. But the new administration claimed these efforts were wasteful, did not serve the country's interests, and cost too much. 

It’s not clear who can or will fill the gaps.

“I think we are going through a very dark time,” says Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, founder and president of the One Health Trust. But Dr. Laxminarayan, an epidemiologist and economist, does see some hope. He doubts the United States will permanently end its robust support of global health and he sees opportunities for organizations such as WHO to streamline and become more efficient.

Listen as he chats with One World, One Health host Maggie Fox about the immediate effects of the startling new United States government policies and how he sees things shaking out in the long term.