The destruction of the civil service can destroy democracy, too. Kathleen Walters was only 23 days away from qualifying for early retirement at the IRS when she decided to quit, rather than acquiesce to a Trump-administration request that she break the law and compromise millions of people’s privacy. She’s one of hundreds of thousands of … [Read more…]
One year ago, the Trump administration in the United States of America (US) issued a series of executive actions that upended global health and humanitarian programmes around the world, and severely damaged global cooperation and solidarity on these issues. Clinics shut their doors. Lifesaving medicines were stranded at ports. Health workers lost their jobs. The … [Read more…]
Email sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priority US diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs … [Read more…]
As the Trump administration pledges to meet global health targets, it has terminated some of its best tools for doing so. BLANTYRE, Malawi—Earlier this year, McDonald Phiri crashed his bike near his home in southern Malawi. Laid up for months, the 49-year-old relied on an outreach worker to deliver the HIV prevention medicine that he … [Read more…]
A viewing and conversation on “Rovina’s Choice” You are cordially invited to join Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for a viewing of the Oscar short-listed short documentary film “Rovina’s Choice,” a harrowing account of a mother’s efforts … [Read more…]
On January 24, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump halted all U.S. foreign aid, including funding for HIV services. This threw a global AIDS response built over more than two decades into immediate disarray. The administration has continued to sow chaos in the weeks and months since, allowing some services to resume, while erasing others completely. … [Read more…]
A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID In the months that followed, USAID became the first target of Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The mission to which Enrich had dedicated his career was being dismantled before his eyes—even the name of the agency was removed from the building’s … [Read more…]
In January 2025, Denise Mortimer ’93 was entering her 16th year working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the face of American humanitarianism around the world for nearly 65 years. By summer, she and roughly 10,000 of her USAID colleagues had been dismissed—casualties of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal agency. MORE
For over four decades, Republican presidents have banned U.S. funds from going to groups that provide or promote abortion — and Democratic presidents have reversed the ban. On Friday at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., Vice President JD Vance announced a major expansion of the policy. The Mexico City policy, named for … [Read more…]
Destroying taxpayer-funded contraceptive supplies threatens to fracture supply chains and wrest agency, health, and ultimately, life from women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. The U.S. Government announced plans this month to destroy more than $9.7 million worth of family planning supplies* intended for women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. These products, … [Read more…]