USAID programs, including the vital President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), face significant disruptions despite waivers intended to enable continued operations. Programs like FEWS NET are inactive due to funding cuts and staffing reductions, with key personnel laid off. Various health grants have been terminated by the Trump administration, affecting millions of people reliant on these services. Protests have emerged from supporters of PEPFAR, emphasizing the urgent need for a return to normalcy in these lifesaving programs that have historically saved millions of lives since their inception.
"We have not yet been able to resume any activities," says Payal Chandiramani, a spokesperson for Chemonics, the international firm implementing a large portion of the program.
"The waivers have not been working," says Emory Babcock, a former USAID contractor working on PEPFAR laid off at the beginning of DOGE's cuts.
Despite receiving a waiver, PEPFAR has not been able to resume its work, along with other stymied AIDS-related programs, with funding and staffing cuts hampering the program.
On the same day as Musk's comments, the Trump administration terminated over 10,000 global health grants from USAID and the State Department, killing a variety of services that had been granted a lifesaving waiver.
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