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[–><!–>As the world’s richest men slash American aid for the world’s poorest children, they insist that all is well. “No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,” Elon Musk said. “No one.”–><!–>
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[–><!–>We worked with experts at the Center for Global Development who tried to calculate how many lives are at risk if American humanitarian assistance is frozen or slashed. While these estimates are inexact and depend on how much aid continues, they suggest that a cataclysm may be beginning around the developing world:–><!–>
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An estimated 0 <!–>people could die within a year without American foreign aid for H.I.V. prevention and treatment.–>
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[–><!–>Some of you may be thinking: This is very sad, but why is it our job to keep kids alive in poor countries?–><!–>
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[–><!–>There are two answers to that. The first is that U.S.A.I.D. was established to advance our national interests as well as our values, and its demolition means that the United States loses soft power and China gains. Already, China has moved to replace the United States as the most visible supporter of Cambodia, and we’ll see the same elsewhere, particularly in Africa and the South Pacific.–><!–>
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[–><!–>Antiterrorism programs in Syria and West Africa are faltering and may lead to new attacks on Americans. Surveillance for early detection of avian flu and Ebola are weakened, and an epidemic of either disease could reach America and cost billions of dollars. Trump’s defunding of the polio eradication effort may lead, by one U.S.A.I.D. official’s estimate, to 200,000 cases of paralytic polio each year.–><!–>
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[–><!–>The second answer to that query reflects not a calculation of self-interest but the moral code we live by. In this century, we are all blessed with miraculous, almost biblical powers: We can heal the sick and save children’s lives, all inexpensively: America spends just 0.24 percent of gross national income on humanitarian aid. We properly honor a firefighter who saves a single child, but three cheers for us as taxpayers for rescuing millions of children around the world from AIDS, starvation and disease.–><!–>
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An estimated 0 <!–>people could die within a year without American funding for vaccines.–>
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An estimated 0 <!–>people could die within a year without American funding for food aid.–>
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[–><!–>The Trump administration has abruptly cut all funding, $377 million, for the U.N. Population Fund. As a result, the clinic is now scheduled to close this month, along with many Population Fund programs around the world.–><!–>
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[–><!–>The future of aid will be fought over in the courts, and some remnants may survive, perhaps in the State Department and Agriculture Department. But it’s hard for much to continue when Musk ridicules U.S.A.I.D. as “evil” and “a criminal organization,” adding: “Time for it to die.”–><!–>
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An estimated 0 <!–>people could die within a year without American funding for malaria prevention.–>
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An estimated 0 <!–>people could die within a year without U.S. funding for tuberculosis prevention.–>
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[–><!–>For those readers wondering how they can help, let me offer two suggestions. One is to check out Helen Keller Intl, which does outstanding work in nutrition and blindness. The other, for those focused on advocacy to reverse these American government decisions, is to engage with the ONE Campaign.–><!–>
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[–><!–>Yet I think most Americans would both welcome some reforms and also be proud to see how we save the lives of hungry children and sick orphans around the world by allocating just 24 cents of every $100 of national income to aid. And I find it odious when the world’s richest man cackles about America shoving programs for needy children “into the “wood chipper.”–><!–>
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