There are no words to quantify the devastation that President Trump and Elon Musk have wrought on the world’s most vulnerable children. Since taking office on January 20th, they have landed blow after blow—treating the planet’s smallest and most fragile citizens as punching bags. Trump and Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did this when they abruptly froze poverty-focused foreign assistance, demanded that the U.S. Agency for International Development immediately stop working (even on projects already funded by Congress), fired tens of thousands of its world-class staff (but not before maligning their reputation and terrorizing them) and completely dismantled the agency, literally wiping away its 60 years of achievements, including its legendary child survival accomplishments.
Supporters of this chaos and cruelty have pointed to the waivers from Secretary of State Rubio for “lifesaving” programs as proof that the most critical support is continuing. But the fact is that, waiver or not, the funding is still not flowing for the vast majority of programs—including the maternal and child health programs that have slashed by over half the preventable child deaths of children under five worldwide. And while it remains to be seen whether money will eventually be provided, many other programs that are in fact “lifesaving” were inexplicably left off the waiver list and may forever be shuttered. DOGE has created a mess around the world that is resulting in the needless suffering and death of children the United States previously committed to help.
For example, programs under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) serving HIV-affected orphans and vulnerable children have not been given a full waiver and, like hundreds of other programs, have been effectively shut down. The excellent USAID and State Department staff that administered them have also been put on leave. While minimal clinical support activities for children are approved under the waiver, critical socio-economic support provided through the OVC program and fundamental to PEPFAR’s success in keeping children alive and protected, have not. The near complete cessation of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programs has been nothing short of catastrophic for the 6.6 million children and their caregivers that PEPFAR was protecting from the worst aspects of HIV.
When a child is orphaned or made vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS they often experience a myriad of overlapping and compounding challenges: the lack of nutritious food, the inability to pay school fees, stigmatization by other children and even adults and the grief associated with the death or illness of their parents and other loved ones. Because the adults in their lives have passed away or are sick, and therefore unable to provide adequate protection for them, these children are more likely to be victims of trafficking and all types of violence and abuse — verbal, physical and sexual. They are also more likely to be HIV positive. Children who are HIV positive die faster than adults because their immune systems are not fully developed, making them more susceptible to infections that can quickly overwhelm their small bodies.
The vital socio-economic support given by PEPFAR’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children programs were providing a critical layer of safety to these children, shielding them from violence, trafficking and abuse, and ensuring they were able to remain healthy and on treatment if they were HIV positive and if they were not HIV positive, protecting them from becoming infected. OVC programs did this by strengthening the family and caregivers around the child. According to updated GOALS RSM HIV models, PEPFAR has prevented 8.3 million children from becoming orphaned in the first place. PEPFAR programs have been shown to reduce physical, verbal and sexual abuse of children by up to 57%. PEPFAR’s protection of adolescent girls, the majority of which is funded by the OVC earmark, reduced their experiences of sexual violence by 65% in Malawi and 68% in Kenya. Sadly, all of that is now gone.
Thanks to the thoughtless destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the abrupt freeze of foreign assistance by DOGE, millions of orphans and vulnerable children have been abandoned without warning. No longer will there be community workers ensuring that they have food to eat, and if there is suspected child abuse, no longer will there be anybody to follow up to ensure the child is safe. If a parent dies, there is likewise no one there anymore making sure their child finds extended family to take them in. Absent an immediate reversal on the part of the White House and DOGE, history tells us that many of the millions of children who were dropped from OVC support will soon be found in hazardous labor, swept into sex trafficking or not alive at all, instead of in school where they belong.
The truth is, OVC programs that ensure the socio-economic well-being of children are absolutely lifesaving, because without them, the future for these kids is grim. The fact that OVC programs (along with hundreds of other lifesaving programs) were frozen in the first place and are not among those programs provided a waiver, speaks volumes. Within the White House and DOGE there is an astounding overall lack of awareness and a dearth of understanding of the specialized work that USAID staff does in incredibly complicated situations around the globe. That work has been refined and nuanced based on decades of experience in the field and absolutely cannot be duplicated by the State Department, should that in fact be the plan going forward.
Needless to say, the entire demolition of USAID and how it has unfolded speaks not only to the lack of expertise among our new decision-makers but even more damning, to their lack of decency and humanity. Their actions are incongruent with America and Americans, who are among the most generous people in the world. They are an utter embarrassment to our nation’s history as the number one leader in cutting global poverty, reducing preventable deaths and suffering of young children and promoting stability and security worldwide. This storied past was achieved with excellence through USAID, its staff and its implementing partners. It is a sad day in our Shining City on a Hill — a phrase coined by Ronald Reagan — when our leaders delight in “feeding USAID into the wood-chipper” and “traumatizing” our public servants who put their lives at risk to save and protect their fellow man. And it is a profoundly stark reflection of this White House’s inhumanity — reveling in the unhinged antics of the richest man in the world as he turns our nation’s back on the poorest children on the planet.