The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has already contributed to an estimated 700,000 deaths worldwide, according to former USAID official Atul Gawande, who cited multiple academic studies warning that the toll could eventually reach into the millions if funding is not restored.
Speaking to The New Yorker, Gawande said the estimate is based on separate analyses from Boston University researchers and a study published in The Lancet, which found that USAID programs had saved roughly 92 million lives over the past two decades before projecting the impact of the agency's dismantling.
