USAID & Velcro Christianity

Originally written 2/5/25
in response to The Atlantic, “America Can’t Just Unpause USAID”

A good case can be made for more efficiency in how the government provides aid, even if it is only a minuscule percentage of the national budget. (If DOGE was serious, they would be looking instead at big defense contracts for real savings, though we know who benefits from those inefficiencies.) But the implementation of the current freeze and possible end of USAID is cruel and shows that the administration and M**k only look at headlines and spreadsheets, not human lives and long term soft power. The handy velcro tabs on their Christianity are showing.

For example: "Juli Duvall-Jones, who oversees an HIV clinic in eastern Ivory Coast, told me that the pregnant women her clinic serves are no longer receiving their daily treatment, meaning that some children will almost certainly contract HIV during birth or through breastfeeding. People who are exposed to HIV have only 72 hours—less than the amount of time many clinics have now been closed—to begin a medication regimen called post-exposure prophylaxis that can help prevent infection. A pause of any length in USAID-funded anti-HIV efforts will cause more people to contract the disease. Missing doses of treatment can make it less effective."

Or this: "...treats severely malnourished children and babies in Sudan—is now scraping by on money diverted from other projects. Most aid efforts operate on extremely thin margins, so any pause in funding is felt almost immediately. 'We can sort of keep it going for a few days,” she said. But once the money runs out, these children will lose the supplemental oxygen, fortified foods, and 24/7 medical supervision they need. Many, she said, will die in two to six hours.'"