Hard numbers: The toll of U.S.A.I.D. cuts revealed

Author Elisha Dacey
Photo: Polio could make a massive resurgence according to numbers released by U.S.A.I.D. (Canva/Supplied)

Good morning. I hate to start your Monday off with difficult news, but it’s news we already knew.

Unfortunately, it now has numbers attached.

A whistleblower went to the New York Times, and Sunday evening, they shared hard numbers attached to the U.S.A.I.D. cuts.

Those numbers, they said, are “likely to cause enormous human suffering.”

The numbers, which are annual estimates, include:

  • 18 million additional cases of malaria leading to 166,000 deaths;
  • 1 million children left untreated for severe acute malnutrition leading to untold deaths;
  • 28,000 cases of infectious diseases like Ebola and Marburg, and;
  • Hundreds of millions of polio infections, leaving up to 200,000 children paralyzed.

The numbers were written in a memo by Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at U.S.A.I.D, after he was placed on administrative leave on Sunday.

I don’t think I need to tell anyone reading this that these are catastrophic numbers that undo generations of heartfelt work and compassion.

I’m trying to remain optimistic. There are ways Canada and the rest of the world can respond, some of which we talked about in our livejournalism webinar on Thursday. You can find a recording of the seminar here. 

I encourage you to watch it.

In the meantime, do your best to be kind to yourself, and to each other.

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  • Elisha Dacey is a seasoned journalist with more than two decades of experience in the field. She has worked in various newsrooms across Canada, ranging from small-town papers to major outlets like CBC Manitoba and Global News. Dacey began her journalism career in Manitoba and has held roles such as managing editor, senior producer and digital online journalist. Notably, she launched Metro Winnipeg, the city’s only free daily newspaper, which quickly became the second most-read paper in Winnipeg. Recently, Elisha Dacey joined Future of Good and is currently Managing Editor.

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