Ebola shows how Trump's health policies are going global -- and coming home

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Ebola shows how Trump’s health policies are going global — and coming home
Politicized public health agencies also make it harder to hold officials accountable

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published May 30, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) The ongoing Ebola crisis is escalating quickly, already ranked the third largest outbreak in history — and experts say erosions of U.S. health policy have fueled the crisis. When Health and Human Services pleaded for volunteers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to screen for Ebola at airports, they highlighted what experts say is a growing problem. The Trump administration’s pullback from public health is rippling across the globe in ways that don’t just affect those overseas.

On Wednesday, the CDC issued an “urgent request” to its workers to help screen for Ebola at U.S. airports. The request came on the tail of the CDC restricting travel from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan earlier in the month as the outbreak worsens. So far, more than 1,000 cases have been reported, with 223 deaths, though only about 125 confirmed cases and 17 confirmed deaths, given that the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has impacted accurate data collection. On average, Ebola is about 50% fatal, which is far more deadly than flu or COVID-19. There is no cure or vaccine for this specific strain of Ebola, the Bundibugyo virus.

The situation, however, is also playing out in the wake of a dramatic pullback in public health investments from the U.S. government, especially in areas relevant to foreign aid. For example, at the beginning of his second term, President Donald Trump, with the assistance of billionaire Elon Musk, disassembled the United States Agency for International Development, an agency that once spearheaded the international response to previous Ebola outbreaks.

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Matthew Herder, a professor of law and Medicine at Shulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, told Salon that the current outbreak is likely worse because of the lack of U.S. support for a response in the region and that future outbreaks are also likely to be difficult to contain because of cuts to public health investments at home and abroad. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/30/how-americas-health-policies-are-reverberating-around-the-world-and-coming-home/