Atul Gawande Cites Deep Harm Done After USAID Gutting, Urges Commitment To Medicine

Photo: @HarvardDivinity

India-West News Desk

BOSTON, MA – Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon, author, and former U.S. global health official, delivered a sobering assessment of the gutting of U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) by the current White House during an April 28 discussion at Harvard, while urging students and faculty to remain committed to the work of science and medicine.

Gawande, who is affiliated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and holds faculty appointments at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, had taken leave from the University in 2021 after being appointed by President Joe Biden to lead USAID’s Bureau for Global Health.

Speaking with Marcia de Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography at the Chan School, Gawande said the Trump administration’s removal of nearly all USAID staff and termination of more than 85 percent of its programs inflicted “devastating” harm—both to global health outcomes and to the U.S.’s role as a global health leader, the Harvard Gazette reported.

Recalling his time with USAID, Gawande said that the agency, working with half the budget of a typical Boston hospital, built a 50-country network to surveil deadly diseases like Ebola and bird flu faster than ever before and detailed several other projects which were more low cost than the public has been led to believe.

“What I know now, three months from when I departed my role at USAID, is USAID cannot be restored to what it was, but it is not too late to save our health and science infrastructure and our talent,” he said.

Referencing the federal funding freeze on certain Harvard research programs, Gawande noted that Ariadne Labs, a research center he founded in 2012 affiliated with Harvard and Brigham and Women’s, is among those affected. The center’s work includes studies on surgical safety, maternal health, and primary care delivery.

Despite the challenges, Gawande expressed cautious optimism, the Harvard Gazette reported, quoting him: “As an American, one of the things I’m quite uncertain about is whether America is going to be part of leading and part of the solution any time soon. But you and your expertise will be needed no matter what.”