According to today’s edition of Time.com (July 1, 2025), the shuttering of USAID will lead to millions of deaths around the world. That claim is based on a new study published in the respected medical journal The Lancet (June 30) showing that the defunding of USAID (The United States Agency for International Development) by Trump (at the behest of Musk) will lead to the deaths of 14 million people by 2030 of whom 4.5 million will be children and babies under the age of 5.
USAID has been a major life-saver for millions of HIV victims, including many children born with HIV. It has also saved the lives of millions of potential and actual victims of malaria.
The Lancet article is based on studies done by researchers (epidemiologists) in Brazil and other countries.
The Time.com article quotes President John F. Kennedy saying in 1961 that “There is no escaping [America’s] moral obligations” to the less fortunate people of the world.
Whatever the motives of Trump’s (and Musk’s) shut down of USAID, it is a tragedy and a travesty of justice. One does not have to be a Christian to know and say that! But Christians should be in the forefront of speaking truth to power against it. Where are the voices of bishops and theologians and denominational leaders speaking out against it?
I believe that IF a person claims to be a Christ-follower but supports this shut-down of USAID, he or she needs to examine himself or herself and needs to be challenged by fellow Christians. I question the authenticity of such a person’s Christian identity.
Yes, yes, I have heard and studied all the claims about USAID’s errors, but, as I have said here before, USAID could have been fixed rather than shut down. There is corruption in the US Military-Industrial Complex but nobody is calling for the US Military to be shut down because of it.
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