The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and rapid dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development have “completely invited the next pandemic to unravel and to come to the United States,” warned a former USAID official granted anonymity to speak for fear of reprisals. How so: The U.S. is no longer engaged in potential threats like the ongoing mpox outbreak in more than a dozen African countries and a new outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, the former official, who worked in USAID’s global health department before the Trump administration took over, told reporters Friday. “USAID in a typical situation when they become aware of any type of threat, such as Ebola, has a clear way that it engages, and activates staff systems and partners to get ahead of those threats, all with the intention of stopping the spread so that those diseases don’t hit the United States,” the person said. Such protocols have been disrupted as USAID staffers in those countries are either returning to the U.S. or are left in limbo as the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has assumed control of the agency’s communication systems, according to the former official. Additionally, polio eradication efforts and bird flu monitoring in 50 countries have stopped, the former official said. USAID — which President Donald Trump said Friday should be shut down, accusing it of fraudulent spending — managed most of the U.S. bilateral global health funding in fiscal year 2023, the latest year for which data is available, according to KFF, a health policy think tank. On Friday, a federal judge ordered an immediate halt to a Trump administration plan to place 2,200 USAID employees on leave by the end of Friday. But the agency’s future remains uncertain. Former and current agency officials worry that the dismantling, coupled with the foreign-aid freeze, would have long-lasting impacts on global health, as the U.S. is the world’s largest humanitarian-aid donor. “That’s going to mean that it's more likely that Ebola cases or other cases reach other prosperous donor nations or anywhere,” said a current official in the agency’s bureau for humanitarian assistance, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals from the administration. “The ripple effects are going to be catastrophic everywhere,” the official said. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
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