Elon Musk’s USAID cuts will cause 4.5m child deaths

‘The Lancet’ report shows that the US DOGE defunding of foreign aid has reversed decades of progress in child health worldwide, writes Dr Suzanne Crowe

Elon Musk brandishing a chainsaw to celebrate his 'DOGE' budget cuts at a February 2025 conference in Maryland. File picture: José Luis Magana/AP

The last 25 years have been a momentous time to be working in child health. Child mortality was falling at the quickest rate in any period of human history. Deaths in children under five fell by more than half since the year 2000.

The legacy of malnutrition and oppression from successive world wars in the last century had dissipated, replaced by scientific discovery and shared ideals. The reasons why children died from common childhood diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia were now understood. International stability and the growing availability of global funding to tackle these illnesses, meant that more children globally were surviving into adolescence.