As Australia enters an election campaign likely to be marked by the spread of disinformation and misinformation, divisive rhetoric, and silence from the major parties on key health issues – such as the climate crisis and environmental degradation, First Nations peoples’ rights and the health impacts of widening inequality – it’s timely to stay abreast of the latest health news from the United States.
The post below links readers into some of the most recent developments, with links to further reading.
Sweeping cuts
The US Department of Health and Human Services will lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centres across the country, PBS reported yesterday.
Read more at Mother Jones, which outlines cuts to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Combined with other cuts, the department’s overall workforce will go from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees, a reduction of nearly 25 percent.
More detail is reported here, and here.
Funding cuts to research and programs for COVID, climate change and health, HIV prevention and other key areas can be expected to have global ramifications.
Stat News: https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/24/nih-outside-scientific-advisers-being-removed/
Brain drain
“As uncertainty and disruption permeate all aspects of the US research enterprise”, many researchers are considering leaving the country, according to a survey by Nature.
More than 1,200 scientists who responded to a poll by the journal – three-quarters of the total respondents – are considering leaving the US. Europe and Canada were among the top choices for relocation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/26/yale-professor-fascism-canada?CMP=share_btn_url
Meanwhile, Nature reports that an immigration crackdown in the US is “rattling the global research community, with high-profile detentions and deportations of academics stoking fears even for travellers with valid entry documents”.
Global health cuts
Evidence is mounting about how the US cuts are devastating global health endeavours, from climate action to HIV, nutrition and vaccination.
The Lancet: Impact of an international HIV funding crisis on HIV infections and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study
The Conversation: Foreign aid cuts could mean 10 million more HIV infections by 2030 – and almost 3 million extra deaths
Human rights under threat
The Trump Administration et al are undermining human rights and the rule of law, at home and abroad.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/trump-human-rights-report-00238581
Amnesty was commenting on the detention of a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University by Department of Homeland Security agents without explanation.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the Trump Adminnistration and health
