USAID Cuts in Kenya Reveal Risks to Lives and American Influence Worldwide

On Monday morning, patients rushed to the Mathare North Health Center in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Over the weekend, news had filtered through a nearby informal settlement that the US government had frozen its international aid programs, which fund healthcare facilities like their local clinic.

Dozens of panicked people queued outside, hoping to stockpile the antiretroviral drugs they need to combat HIV, but there was no one at the clinic to dispense the medications. Seventeen staff at the health center had already been told that their positions had been terminated.

Delays to treatment could be fatal. “Many are thinking that ...