Mothers and children are among those who are now losing their lives due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) conducting cuts to various agencies and programs.
The latest development comes as care workers in African nations have long relied on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to keep their charges alive. However, Musk insisted in earlier March that "no one has died" from DOGE's freeze on USAID grants.
Elon Musk's DOGE Cuts
This is not the case as a 10-year-old South Sudanese boy identified as Peter Donde and others like him have already lost their lives. Kids like Donde were only able to survive thanks to medications disbursed through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
After Musk and President Donald Trump froze USAID, these children were left on their own without any assistance and have now started to suffer fatal consequences. Donde reportedly died of a pneumonia infection in late February, which he got after his immune system weakened without the medications, according to Futurism.
Moses Okeny Labani, an outreach worker who helped Donde and almost 150 other children stay alive, said that the deaths would not have happened if USAID was still supplying them with funds for much-needed medicine.
Before the interview about the cuts to USAID, Labani had never heard of Musk before he was given a quick overview of who he is. With regards to the Tesla CEO's claim that no one has died due to the pause in funding, Labani said that the billionaire entrepreneur is simply, "wrong."
On top of the USAID cuts, Musk's DOGE also defunded a unit that worked to help rescue Ukrainian children who were kidnapped by Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine. The unit consists of researchers from Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), Newsweek reported.
Effects of Less Funding
A spokesperson for the university said that the government decided to cut its funding for its work on the war in Ukraine. This puts nearly 20,000 kids who have been abducted by Russian forces at risk.
Furthermore, the Tesla CEO is now considering cuts to Social Security and benefit programs as he claims that there is widespread fraud happening right now. Musk suggested that the cuts need to involve $500 billion to $700 billion in waste.
The billionaire entrepreneur argued that the majority of federal spending is entitlements, adding that it is one of the things he wants to eliminate. This comes as Musk is already facing criticism for his chainsaw-wielding approach to laying off workers and slashing programs, as per the Associated Press.
