Global health: Time to build back better after US aid withdrawal
The months since United States President Donald Trump’s election have been characterised by jitters in the global health community.These jitters have not been unfounded, based on actions he took in his first term such as expanding the global gag rule that led to widespread disruption of health programmes.But nothing could have prepared the world for the shocking decision to dismantle USAID overnight, which some have termed “geopolitical vandalism” .The impact of this decision will take time to comprehend, partly because data systems that track the impact of various programmes across the world have also been closed.The termination of more than 85 per cent of 6,300 projects in less than a month of review preceded by stop-work orders and piecemeal exemptions was highly disruptive.The drastic decision was taken without consulting key players: large international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that were the preferred contractors for USAID, thousands of implementing partners on the g...