Former USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid led to an estimated 780,000 preventable deaths [1].
The scale of these losses highlights the humanitarian risk associated with rapid shifts in international development policy and the removal of established health infrastructure.
The cuts were driven by the administration of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to reduce spending. These measures resulted in the elimination of 90 percent [3] of USAID foreign-aid contracts, totaling a reduction of $60 billion [2] in overall U.S. assistance.
Power said the loss of funding worsened the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The impact extended to Kenya, where shortages of HIV medication became critical. A representative from a Canadian charity said, "People will die," regarding the medication shortages in Kenya [4].
These aid cuts remained in effect for 18 months [1] before the DOGE program officially ended on July 4, 2024 [5]. The transition period created a vacuum in global health security and emergency response capabilities.
Legal challenges followed the administration's actions. A federal judge said, "The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution" [6].
“"People will die," said a Canadian charity concerned about HIV medication shortages in Kenya.”
The dismantling of USAID represents a fundamental shift in U.S. soft power, moving away from institutionalized multilateral aid toward a model of extreme fiscal efficiency. The reported death toll and legal challenges suggest that the rapid removal of health contracts can create systemic failures in global disease containment, potentially leaving the U.S. more vulnerable to future pandemics by eroding the international surveillance and treatment networks it previously funded.
