USAID Was Promised Emergency Waivers for Ebola and AIDS. They’re Not Working

At a Trump administration cabinet meeting on Wednesday, unelected South African centibillionaire Elon Musk joked about how his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “accidentally canceled” Ebola prevention. He assured the room that DOGE had “fixed” the issue. In reality, as an Ebola outbreak continues in Uganda, the aid response from the United States has been severely curtailed by the destruction of the country’s largest foreign aid arm—and other lifesaving humanitarian programs are also still broken, including AIDS and famine work. Over the past month, DOGE has overseen the dismantling of USAID, first placing on administrative leave and then laying off the vast majority of its workers, and freezing funding for contractors implementing its programs. The State Department developed emergency humanitarian waivers intended to keep lifesaving work going—but current and former USAID workers and other public health experts have told WIRED that the waivers are useless. “The w ... Read full article.