‘Going down the drain’: Atlanta global health work imperiled by U.S. aid cuts

Joyce Sepenoo, senior director of global health programs at CARE USA, and Dr. Patrick O'Carroll, president and CEO at The Task Force for Global Health, participate in a panel discussion Oct. 4 at the Decatur Book Festival. (Rebecca Grapevine / Healthbeat)

Sudden cuts to U.S. global health aid this year have hit Atlanta-based international nonprofits hard, spurring layoffs of close to 1,000 workers, and imperiling their mission to help millions of people access food and life-saving health services.

A program that trained thousands of health and nutrition workers in Bangladesh is “going down the drain,” said Joyce Sepenoo, senior director of global health programs at CARE. Programs that are helping countries like Uganda nearly eliminate river blindness have lost funding, said Dr. Kashef Ijaz of The Carter Center.

They are among leaders of four Atlanta global health organizations affected by cuts implemented by the Trump administration since taking office in January.