The Trump administration has made the U.S. less ready for infectious disease outbreaks like coronavirus

As the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak continues, an article by Linda J. Bilmes  (Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Finance, Harvard Kennedy School) considers how the Trump administration has harmed the ability of the U.S. to respond to infectious disease outbreaks. The article cites a decrease in appropriation levels for relevant CDC programs, down 10% from 2016, adjusting for inflation. Moreover, in 2018, Trump attempted to cut $65 million from the agency’s budget, a 10% reduction. In 2019, he sought a 19% reduction. In 2020, he proposed to cut federal spending on “emerging and infectious zoonotic diseases by 20%.” Congress, however, reinstated the funding with bipartisan support.

Changes in personnel, however, have resulted in the loss of qualified and respected leadership that would be critical to navigating a course capable of thwarting the crisis of an infectious disease outbreak.

In 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the global health security team, the group that had been tasked with helping the U.S. build its resiliency to epidemic threats. The global health security team was a casualty of a reorganization of the National Security Council (NSC) as ordered by John Bolton, the then national security advisor.

In response to Bolton’s elimination of the global health security and biodefense directorate, two respected leaders left the White House: Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer who served as the NSC’s senior director for global health security and biodefense, and Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert.

During his tenure under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Zimmer

Ziemer’s track record during his tenure under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama included a global anti-malaria campaign that reduced deaths by 60% over 15 years. Zimmer estimated in 2016 that “funding initiatives to reduce malaria generated a 36-to-1 return on investment because it averted so many deaths and debilitating interests. In 2018, he traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist with the fight against the reemergence of Ebola.

~~ Janette Canare

Source:
Bilmes, Linda J. “The Trump Administration Has Made the U.S. Less Ready for Infectious Disease Outbreaks like Coronavirus.” The Conversation. Accessed February 3, 2020. http://theconversation.com/the-trump-administration-has-made-the-u-s-less-ready-for-infectious-disease-outbreaks-like-coronavirus-130983.