"You know, foreign aid has historically had bipartisan support. It saves lives and has been generally seen as a way for America to wield influence and build goodwill. But the Trump administration saw it differently, that the way America was doing foreign aid was ineffective and wasteful. USAID, in particular, was viewed as far left and irredeemable. It's programs that provided support for LGBTQ people or reproductive health and climate solutions were seen as part of a woke agenda that taxpayers shouldn't be funding."
"It's been a cataclysmic year in global health. In January, the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds. Then it dismantled the United States Agency for International Development. These actions had ripple effects all around the world and changed how the U.S. approaches foreign aid. NPR global health correspondent Fatma Tanis has been covering the story for the past year - joins us in our studios. Fatma, thanks so much for being with us."
The Trump administration froze billions in foreign assistance, dissolved the United States Agency for International Development, placed hundreds of agency staff on leave, and terminated thousands of programs within weeks. Critical health services, poverty alleviation efforts, reproductive and LGBTQ support, and climate-related interventions were cut, disrupting service delivery worldwide. The administration framed U.S. aid as inefficient, ideologically driven, and misaligned with core foreign policy objectives, prompting consolidation to better align programs with strategic goals. Conservative voices supported restructuring to improve alignment. The abrupt changes produced ripple effects across global health systems and signaled a substantive shift in U.S. priorities for international health assistance.
Read at www.npr.org
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