Atul Gawande Profile picture
Jan 25 11 tweets 2 min read Read on X
I ran @USAID health programs for the last 3 years. Trump’s 90 day Stop Work Order on foreign assistance does serious damage to the world and the US. Examples:🧵
1. Stops work battling a deadly Marburg outbreak in Tanzania and a wide outbreak of a mpox variant killing children in west Africa before it spreads further.
2. Stops monitoring of bird flu in 49 countries, a disease which already killed an American on home soil.
3. Stops critical work to eradicate polio.
4. Stops >$1B in corporate drug donations and coordination eradicating tropical diseases like river blindness, elephantiasis, and others on the verge of elimination in whole regions. neglecteddiseases.gov/about/results-…
5. Stops medicines, supplies, systems building, staff support aiding >90 million women and children to get low cost vaccinations, prenatal care, safe childbirth, contraception, and other basic lifesaving health needs. usaid.gov/PreventingChil…
6. Stops direct services for 6.5 million orphans, vulnerable children, and their caregivers affected by HIV in 23 countries.
7. Stops donated drug supplies keeping 20 million people living with HIV alive.
8. Would furlough all USAID contract staff — which includes half of its global health bureau—unless exempted.
This Administration is trashing US standing, alliances with scores of countries built over half a century, world-leading capacity and expertise, and American security.
Make no mistake — these essential, lifesaving activities are being halted right now. Consequences aren’t in some distant future. They are immediate.

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More from @Atul_Gawande

Jul 1
STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it saved *92M* lives.

Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost *14M* lives thru 2030.
thelancet.com/journals/lance…Image
Higher USAID support was associated w a 15% reduction in overall deaths and 32% reduction in child deaths.

This wasn't just due to its health work but also its development support for economies, people, and institutions that transitioned numerous countries off of aid. Image
Today, what’s left of USAID is being transferred to the State Dept, which is gutting that development work.

Ending USAID will go down in history as a colossal failure and mistake.
Read 6 tweets
Apr 22
I saw firsthand the impact of stop-work-orders/terminations at USAID & now Harvard.

My new @NewYorker piece is on the serious implications for the lives of millions across the world and the US – including for my own family and very possibly your own. 🧵 newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…
These attacks are part of a broader assault on America’s health-and-science infrastructure. >90% of the $9B in federal dollars for Harvard that Trump has threatened supports life sciences – including heart disease research that saved my son’s life and guides his future care. Image
My family is far from unique. If you or someone you love has cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or diabetes, you have likely benefited from the university’s federally funded discoveries. harvard.edu/research-fundi…
Read 10 tweets
Feb 27
Yesterday, Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.

Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressional mandated. They've saved millions of lives. 🧵
1. All malaria supplies protecting 53 million people, mostly children, including bed nets, diagnostics, preventive drugs, and treatments – terminated.
2. All tuberculosis programs, including the Global TB Drug Facility – terminated.
Read 13 tweets
Feb 9
Musk is continuing his wildly distorted claims attacking USAID. The last round is debunked below.

And I'll unpack the reality in this 🧵, too. 1/13 wapo.st/3ErHBZM
Conservative Andrew Natsios led USAID under the GOP and he masterfully unpacks the lies and slander in this interview. 2/13
politico.com/news/magazine/…
Meanwhile, as a test case for illegally hijacking the entire US government, the world’s richest man is destroying health and humanitarian efforts with gleeful indifference to the horrific damage to the US and people’s lives. 10 Examples:
Read 14 tweets
Feb 6
Rubio claims that @USAID lifesaving assistance for health and humanitarian needs will continue. But his team just communicated that the entire agency will be imminently reduced from 14,000 to 294 people. Just 12 in Africa. Image
We already see the shutdown's cost. Kids with drug-resistant TB, turned away from clinics, are not just dying - they're spreading the disease. People around the world w HIV, denied their medicine, will soon start transmitting virus. The damage is global. wbur.org/onpoint/2025/0…
Communications in one mission overseas:
"I'm sorry to say that all of us will be on administrative leave -- perhaps even starting today/this evening. I don't have the adequate words. Please know that your work was good, and it mattered."
Read 6 tweets
Apr 19, 2022
Wow. On board JetBlue. Attendant just announced that the courts struck down CDC’s 2 week extension of the mask mandate today and JetBlue now dropped its mask requirement. The attendant added he is taking his off.

(Meanwhile: double digit increases in cases in the northeast.)
With cases rising, and superspreader events like the Gridiron dinner, I thought CDC’s 2 wk wait to see if hospitalizations climb was sensible. Moreover, it seemed far from an abuse of public health authority. Different courts 2nd guessing seems mainly likely to confuse matters.
>50% of passengers and crew dropped their masks, including many passengers who appeared age 70+.

With weekly cases in Boston at ~300/100K, and 3-5X that unconfirmed, our packed plane of ~250 likely has at least 1 case.

Kept my mask on. Just don’t want to get sick.
Read 4 tweets

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