Rubio Announces the New "America First" Rebrand of U.S. Aid After Killing USAID
14,000,000 avoidable deaths through 2030 depend on actions he and Trump's GOP take or avoid.
Here on Substack’s
account, Marco Rubio, who championed USAID as senator and, with Elon Musk and Trump, completely destroyed it, just laid out the Trump America First brand of development assistance.
The rebranding was rolled out on Facebook
.Fox News cheered the Make U.S. Aid Great Again rollout.
There are some themes in Rubio’s post worth hailing, like prioritizing trade over aid. But there’s a complete fallacious negation of what decades of American development aid did to improve and save lives in the world’s regions of deepest need. This line is grotesque:
Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War.
And of course it remains to be seen if the emergent Trump-style aid and trade work, moved under the State Department mantle, will come anywhere near replicating the best of USAID. Not holding my breath.
I dearly wish Team Trump and congressioinal Republicans would absorb the realities described in this peer-reviewed Lancet study, published almost in sync with the July 1 termination of USAID: “Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis.” (Yes, I doubt it of course.)
Key point
We estimate that over the past two decades, USAID-funded programmes have helped prevent more than 91 million deaths globally, including 30 million deaths among children. Projections suggest that ongoing deep funding cuts—combined with the potential dismantling of the agency—could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including 4·5 million deaths among children younger than 5 years.
Findings
The study.. “indicates that 91 ,839 ,663 (95% CI 85, 690 ,135–98 ,291 ,626) all-age deaths, including 30, 391 ,980 (26, 023, 132–35 ,482 ,636) in children younger than 5 years, were prevented by USAID funding over the 21-year study period. USAID funding was associated with a 65% reduction (RR 0·35, 0·29-0·42) in mortality from HIV/AIDS (representing 25·5 million deaths), 51% (RR 0·49, 0·39–0·61) from malaria (8·0 million deaths), and 50% (RR 0·50, 0·40–0·62) from neglected tropical diseases (8·9 million deaths). Significant decreases were also observed in mortality from tuberculosis, nutritional deficiencies, diarrhoeal diseases, lower respiratory infections, and maternal and perinatal conditions. Forecasting models predicted that the current steep funding cuts could result in more than 14 ,051 ,750 (uncertainty interval 8, 475 ,990–19, 662, 191) additional all-age deaths, including 4, 537, 157 (3 ,124, 796–5 ,910 ,791) in children younger than age 5 years, by 2030.”
Implications
USAID funding has had a crucial role in improving global health, particularly by reducing mortality from poverty-related diseases and saving the lives of millions of adults and children. Current and proposed US aid cuts—along with the probable ripple effects on other international donors—threaten to abruptly halt and reverse one of the most important periods of progress in human development. For many LMICs [low and middle-income countries], the resulting shock would be similar in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict. Unlike those events, however, this crisis would stem from a conscious and avoidable policy choice—one whose burden would fall disproportionately on children and younger populations, and whose consequences could reverberate for decades.
Listen to Nick Kristof in this interviwe with
’s for more:
Andy,
I just came from Pielke's substack, and it's expression of pride and satisfaction to yours, and its grim reality of how, one of many examples, the loss of empathy is the loss of civilized values. I can not share this years 4th of July celebration , and wrote-
"Your story. I'm trying to share your pride of citizenship. How lucky you are. How fortunate Mom-Mom was not deported as she well might be today. That would have changed your story forever. Contrast her with so many we read about who's only crime is escaping the poverty, crime, and/or violence of their country, only to be send back to it or to South Sudan or wherever. I choke on your satisfaction. My pride and love of country is expressed in tears, not confidence. I could write of my family and its successes, too, if only I could first wipe away the grief for the America I love".