USAID Funding Cuts May Cause 14M Additional Deaths In Next Five Years, Study Suggests

The Washington Post (7/1, Ables) reports a study published in The Lancet says that federal cuts to the US Agency for International Development “could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths globally over the next five years.” The study estimates “that 91 million deaths in low- to middle-income countries were prevented between 2001 and 2021, owing to USAID, whose programs have played a vital role administering humanitarian and developmental assistance to vulnerable populations around the world.” The researchers utilized “projection models assessing two scenarios – one in which 2023 funding levels continue and another that reflects the cancellation of 83 percent of USAID’s programs announced” by the Trump Administration – to predict that “more than 14 million preventable deaths could occur by 2030, including 4.5 million deaths among children under 5, if cuts continue.” In addition, researchers “write that higher levels of USAID funding were associated with a 15 percent reduction in ‘all-cause’ mortality worldwide over 21 years.”