Atul Gawande

Opinion | Doctors Have Lost Their Mount Olympus of Medicine

Excellent read from @danielleofri.bsky.social on the reality for clinicians as NIH, CDC, FDA recs are put under political controls: “Medical professionals can no longer fully trust federal health guidance, and our patients are the ones who will suffer the most.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

Opinion | José Andrés: People of Good Conscience Must Stop the Starvation in Gaza

truly

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...

Opinion | You May Not Be Trump’s Target This Time. But You Could Be Next.

They came for the foreign aid workers, justice department, public health institutions, universities and researchers, law firms, media organizations, not to mention longtime immigrants. Now it is nonprofits too. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...

Bush, Obama — and singer Bono — fault Trump’s gutting of USAID on agency’s last day “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” Obama said.

Bono in a lyrical send off: “They called you crooks/when you were the best of us/there for the rest of us./And don’t think any less of us/when politics makes a mess of us.” www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Obama: “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.”

Bush, Obama, and Bono thanked USAID staff & criticized dismantling USAID.

Bush: “Is it in our interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is. On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your hard work, and God bless you.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

Today, what’s left of USAID is being transferred to the State Dept, which is gutting that development work. Ending USAID will go down in history as a colossal failure and mistake. bsky.app/profile/ddia...

Higher USAID support was associated with a 15% reduction in overall mortality and 32% reduction in child mortality.

This was the effect of not just its health work but also its development support for economies, people, and institutions that transitioned numerous countries off of aid.

STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

"The anti‑vax movement, once seen as confined to the U.S., is now spreading globally." An excellent, if sobering, piece from Rivka Galchen.

Opinion | The U.S. Cannot Solve All the World’s Problems

“Foreign aid has changed nothing.” “These are not our problems.” “The system is dysfunctional.” “The countries we aid are corrupt.” “Other countries aren’t doing enough.”

I have heard all these arguments too. @nickkristof.bsky.social succinctly answers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...

Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support

This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V.

It's turned into something very different.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

Republicans in Congress know these facts and have supported @Gavi since its founding.

Trump cannot override Congress's mandated support for Gavi.

It is on the GOP to stop this inhuman decision -- or accept its responsibility for the massive loss of children's lives.

There is a direct connection to RFK Jr's firing of CDC vaccine advisers and actions to undermine vaccination here at home.

RFK Jr is now proving to be a direct threat to children's lives in the US and around the world.

Some basic facts RFK Jr continues to ignore.

Global health advances have reduced child deaths 75% over the last 50 years.

40% of those gains were from vaccination. And 60% of those gains were from the measles vaccine alone. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort Kennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.

This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

However, advocates, protests, and calls into Senate offices are mounting pressure against the rescission bill, as well as against the cuts to Medicaid and other lifesaving health programs on the chopping block. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

House passes rescission package to claw back $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid, NPR, PBS The House is expected to vote Thursday on White House's rescission package to claw back funding for NPR, PBS, foreign aid.

Instead, the biggest blocker is foreign aid cuts that shut down most global HIV prevention. The rescission bill in the Senate would make DOGE cuts costing 1000s of lives permanent. And Trump’s big policy bill cuts key funding for PEPFAR & the Global Fund. www.cbsnews.com/news/house-v...

Lenacapavir’s is a big barrier. But PEPFAR and the Global Fund already have agreements for low prices for poor countries in line with existing PrEP (daily pre-exposure prophylaxis medicine) costs. And 6 generic manufacturers have licensing. www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/2024...

The Trump administration also axed CDC’s HIV Prevention programs and is pushing $800M in budget cuts that demolish CDC testing and outreach programs for at-risk populations. It’s already imperilling HIV control. The Senate must not approve these cuts. hivhep.org/press-releas...

AIDSVu Releases New PrEP Data and Launches PrEPVu.org, A New PrEP Equity Platform - AIDSVu

In the US, Medicaid is key. States that expanded Medicaid have 33 percent more people on PrEP than other states. Proposed budget cuts now before the Senate would cut access for many Americans most in need. aidsvu.org/news-updates...

Regulators Approve a Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent H.I.V. Infection

This twice-yearly shot almost completely prevents HIV and is now approved. It could shut down HIV. It needs to roll out in at risk groups. But Trump has gutted HIV prevention at home and abroad. That could be stopped, however. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

Why a Vaccine Expert Left the C.D.C.: ‘Americans Are Going to Die’

Americans Are Going to Die’ -- Why Dr. Fiona Havers, an influential vaccine researcher, left the CDC. The wholesale dismissal of the agency’s scientific advisers crossed the line, she said

(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

Opinion | Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death

After Musk’s dismantling of USAID, deaths can be counted by the hundreds of thousands. “If there were justice in the world, Musk would never be able to repair his reputation, at least not without devoting the bulk of his fortune to easing the misery he’s engendered.“
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Atul Gawande on Instagram: "“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. So far, 190,000 children and 90,000 adults have died due to the dismantling of USAID (even assuming... 9 likes, 0 comments - atul.gawande on May 24, 2025: "“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. So far, 190,000 children and 90,000 adults have died due to the dismantlin...

“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. Credible estimates count 190K deaths so far.

In Kenya, I am seeing devastating impact, incl this child's starvation & many deaths directly caused by Rubio’s actions. More in my @msnbc.com clip. www.instagram.com/atul.gawande...

Opinion | I Came to Study Aging. Now I’m Trapped in ICE Detention.

“What I do know is that my colleagues, many…like me, foreign scientists, are terrified of being detained or having their visa status revoked.”

It’s 3 months since ICE put Kseniia Petrova in detention for a customs violation normally handled with a fine.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

Read the actual #math on DOGE cuts from Jessica Reidl.

Musk claims $165B in savings are vastly overstated. And the cuts to IRS & loan recovery staff will produce 100s of billions in net loss of revenues.

Net: Costs up. Lives lost. Country harmed. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The Millennium Challenge Corporation could prove essential in the race for critical minerals. Reform it, don’t shut it down. As the Trump administration aligns foreign aid with core strategic interests, the MCC represents an underutilized asset.

One example of how dumb this is: Just as China is cutting off US access to rare earth minerals, DOGE is abandoning projects and capacity that could supply alternate sources — and allowing China or others to take them over.
www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

DOGE to Dismantle Millennium Challenge Corporation (Gift Article) Millennium Challenge Corporation staff members were offered early retirement or deferred resignation in the latest effort by the Trump administration to gut the foreign aid apparatus.

MCC is small but backs key infrastructure development in developing countries — such as power grids, ports, and access to critical minerals. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/u...

Yet another example of the gutting of key parts of HHS.