Last month, shortly after President Donald Trump announced an executive order on reevaluating U.S. foreign aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved a waiver for existing lifesaving humanitarian assistance programs to continue or resume work. Though the waiver appeared to be a step toward restoring health services, CFR Senior Fellow Prashant Yadav warns it will not achieve its objective of delivering medicines without sufficient staffing at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and clear, legal definitions of which services are lifesaving.
Associate Editor Allison Krugman then uses data visualizations to illustrate how Trump’s decision to gut the USAID and withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) is jeopardizing global health. Krugman notes that the lack of U.S. support and resources could inspire other countries to follow suit and will “hobble critical disease detection, monitoring, and response programs globally.”
This week, U.S. egg prices reached their highest mark in 45 years. Managing Editor Nsikan Akpan speaks with poultry veterinarians and an economist about how a new version of H5N1 avian influenza drove the trend, leading to the culling of 41 million chickens in December and January. They also explain why officials have not deployed vaccines to stem the outbreak.
Moving to Democratic Republic of Congo, health policy analyst Jonta Kamara and nurse clinician Stephanie Bumba dive into the environmental health risks of the country’s $24 trillion mining industry. Workers earn less than $8.60 per day and face unsafe working conditions that harm not only their health but that of their babies.
To wrap up the issue, Harvard University student Nora Y. Sun explores how the recent U.S. TikTok ban threatens mental health support for the thousands online who use the platform to commune with others living with stigmatized mental health disorders.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
