Pandemia

Full episode is here: podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/pan…

And that is the long and the short of it: Whatever disinfo Musk spreads on X or tonight during the Super Bowl, the richest man on earth, ensconced in his cocoon of privilege, is taking away livelihoods and access to life saving medications from some of the poorest, most…

“Just from the HIV programs alone, that's potentially a death toll in the millions and and it's just happening because of a bullshit disinformation campaign by Elon Musk and and the cover that that gives to a very small group of people in the State Department to destroy this…

As @JeremyKonyndyk told us: “This is going to kill a lot of people. It's going to kill a lot of people for whom US humanitarian aid keeps them alive. … It is going to kill, - literally, no hyperbole, no exaggeration - it's going to kill many, many people.”

The reason we named the episode “People will die” is that every single person we talked to for this episode made it very clear that this will happen, indeed that it is happening already.

We also talked to @JeremyKonyndyk, who immediately mentioned Sudan as well: “If there is anywhere on Earth where you would want to keep the humanitarian presence, it's there. It's all being pulled down and pulled back. So this is just pure destruction.”

Every one of these people had families dependent on their income, says Plate. And some projects intended to build resilience and ensure food for the next year are now in peril. If these don’t go ahead that would have dramatic consequences not just this year but in the coming…

We talked to Johannes Plate in Sudan, where people are in the midst of a genocide and a famine. He told us that at his organization, which receives USAID funds, 57 out of 73 people had to be put on unpaid leave immediately. They couldn’t even pay them for the month of January…

Sibongile Tshabalala, an HIV activist in S Africa, told us about her fear that this would erase progress: “our fear is that we are going to lose more people again because of HIV-related illnesses. My fear is that we will have more HIV infections if PrEP is not available and there…

Franklin also worked at the clinic educating about HIV prevention and combatting stigma, one of thousands of locals whose jobs depend on US foreign aid. He told us about the shock of suddenly losing his livelihood. “It just happened abruptly. At the end of the day, it has…

Franklin is one of roughly 20 million people worldwide whose HIV medication is paid for by PEPFAR, a program started under George W. Bush. It has put more than 110 billion dollars towards ending HIV/AIDS and is credited with saving more than 25 million lives.

Franklin Wanyama in Kenya told us how upon hearing the news he became scared of no longer receiving the pills that keep his HIV suppressed. “When I got this news, I first went to the facility very fast to get at least more medication if possible. Because now I am worried, will…

My co-host Laura and I got together for an emergency podcast episode of @pandemiapodcast on what is happening around the world due to Trump’s executive orders affecting foreign aid. Episode (mostly in German) is here and some points to come: podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/men…

“I think it’s absolutely phenomenal that Rwanda and the Sabin institute were able to go from detection [of the virus] to doses in arms in just over a week,” says @Craig_A_Spencer. But health officials and scientists wrestled with the question of how to use them, in a debate…

“The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported more than 30 000 suspected and laboratory-confirmed cases, and 990 deaths since the start of 2024 – accounting for 90% of the cases reported from 15 countries in the African region so far this year.” afro.who.int/countries/demo…