The Aporia
The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told Semafor that Western aid cuts present a "major opportunity" for African nations to become more independent after years of depending on overseas assistance for public health services. Before USAID, the US development agency, was closed last year, it funded many health programs across Africa. Around 700,000 people have died in the past 18 months due to these cuts, according to a global aid organization leader. Jean Kaseya noted that even if Western administrations change, there will never again be the same level of support as before. He is working with African governments to reduce waste by eliminating fraud in procurement and salary payments, citing an unnamed country where half of salaried health staff were found to be "ghost workers." Additionally, Kaseya emphasized the importance of domestic resource mobilization through taxation and pointed out that the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo was exacerbated by these aid cuts.