To: Congress
Restore the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) now!
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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—providing international support and humanitarian aid—operated for more than 60 years until the Trump administration stripped funding and effectively dissolved the agency.
Without long-term investment in communities and billions of dollars in funding to address poverty, hunger, illness, and inequality—Trump’s cuts are estimated to lead to millions of preventable deaths.
And USAID played an important role in responding to infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola, now leaving the U.S. without the international structures in place to coordinate and support effectively.
The consequences of dissolving the USAID are dire. Congress must reinstate funding and restore the USAID immediately.
Why is this important?
This is only the ninth time in history that the WHO has classified an outbreak as a “a public health emergency of international concern,” and already the outbreak is the third worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.
Trump has already eroded and undermined our public health infrastructure. Cuts to contact tracing, disease surveillance, and vaccine funding has left us underprepared for an outbreak of this magnitude. And while emergency funding and disaster response relief has been approved, we are playing catch up to a disease that is rapidly spreading.
And the Trump administration’s appointed acting head of the NIAID stepped down in the midst of this crisis, leaving a gap in leadership when we need it the most.
Given the circumstances, it is as imperative as ever that experts to have the most up-to-date information, resources, and guidance in order to tackle this outbreak in coordination with global leaders. And that means allowing disease experts in NIAID to have open communication with the WHO.
We don’t have time to wait. Tell the Trump administration to lift restrictions preventing NIAID staff from openly communicating and coordinating with the WHO now!