For many, Trump's presidency is a death sentence. Here’s how lives can be saved

Donald Trump’s cuts to US overseas aid could, among many other effects, leave the world facing an HIV pandemic that kills millions of people. But we can all step up to help fill the gap

As the impact of Trump’s tariffs sink in across the globe, there is a growing realisation that the world order which emerged after the Second World War, and from which we have all benefited, has just been destroyed by a former New York property developer who presided over six bankruptcies.

Plunging markets are wiping out people’s savings and pension pots. Inflation will rise. A global recession is now on the horizon. And the rules governing free trade no longer apply, leaving countries at odds with each other and with America, the world’s biggest economy.

Tariff Man, as Trump has been dubbed on social media, is a real-life Lex Luthor, the billionaire baddie from the Superman movies who tried to reshape America. Trump is even more ambitious. He wants to reorder the world to fulfil his maniacal ambition to put “America First”. And he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process.

People attend an HIV clinic day in Kampala, Uganda. Following US cuts to overseas aid, Dr Bernard Etukoit said there was a lot of panic, fear, and anxiety among their clients (Picture: Hajarah Nalwadda) | Getty Images

Cartoon villains made flesh

His tariffs followed the ongoing closure of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which only a few months ago was the world’s biggest international aid agency, with an annual budget of £40 billion and 10,000 staff.

The agency, which was set up in 1961 by President John F Kennedy, operated in 130 countries and has saved millions of lives over the years, from mothers at risk of death during pregnancy to children born with HIV. Today, Elon Musk – who plays the role of Otis, Lex Luthor’s bumbling sidekick, to perfection – is finalising the agency’s closure, barely able to conceal his childish glee as he rips up Kennedy’s legacy.

If Trump and Musk are cartoon villains come to life, then who will come to the world’s rescue? China had to step in a few days ago when a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar, with its foreign ministry reporting that it was playing “an important role" in the relief effort, sending cash and rescue workers to the worst-affected areas.

Elton John’s Aids Foundation has just launched the Rocket Response Fund to provide immediate support to HIV and Aids services affected by Trump’s destruction of USAID. The Foundation’s director Ann Aslett warned recently that America’s approach could leave the world facing a new HIV pandemic, with an estimated 6.3 million Aids-related deaths and 3.4 million new Aids orphans by 2029.

State-of-the-art prosthetics service

But it is not just superpowers or superstars who can make a big impact on global poverty and health. Last Friday, as the US State Department formally told Congress that it was dissolving USAID, an Edinburgh woman sat down for lunch in Malawi’s biggest hospital.

This was no ordinary midday meal. Olivia Giles, a former high-flying commercial lawyer turned charity CEO, was handing over a state-of-the-art prosthetic and orthotic (P&O) service to Malawi’s Ministry of Health. Olivia, who set up the Edinburgh-based charity 500 miles in 2007, began working in Malawi 17 years ago, during which time the organisation set up two clinics, one in the north and one in the capital Lilongwe.

It trained a team of local staff, several to degree level, and – working with the Ministry of Health and latterly the Lilongwe Institute of Orthopaedics and Neurology – 500 miles has built a viable and sustainable P&O service which is now a fully integrated part of Malawi’s national health service.

Olivia, who had to have her feet and hands amputated after a bout of meningitis nearly killed her in 2002, understands better than most the significant impact of the charity’s work in a country where even the most basic healthcare is denied to millions.

“We have dispensed 21,000 devices to 13,000 people, including many children,” she says. “Pain-free, independent mobility is priceless, but you only know that if you don’t have it or lose it. I really know the incomparable joy of getting it back.”

Enabling and empowering

Olivia is no starry-eyed aid worker with a Mother Theresa complex. She has brought the same forensic attention to detail and hard-nosed logic to her work in Malawi as she once exercised as a top lawyer.

“Perfect international development work is probably impossible due to the inevitable conflict of cultures and the increased challenge of communicating across that cultural difference,” she explains. “I don’t think that means we shouldn’t try, but interventions should be enabling and empowering rather than ‘doing for’ and should have a clear handover plan.”

Since 2007, Olivia has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for 500 miles. She organised gala dinners starring the Proclaimers. She secured support from businesses and Scotland’s network of Rotary clubs, as well as donations from individuals, all impressed by Olivia’s drive and ambition to help strangers 5,000 miles away to stand up and walk. All eager to make a contribution to a better world.

It's no exaggeration to say that Trump’s presidency could be a death sentence for millions of innocent people across the world. We can watch aghast, wringing our hands in despair – or we can, like Olivia, act.

A moral obligation as global citizens

As John F Kennedy said in a message to Congress on March 22, 1961, after signing the Executive Order that created USAID: “There is no escaping our obligations: our moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbour in the interdependent community of free nations: our economic obligations as the wealthiest people in a world of largely poor people, as a nation no longer dependent upon the loans from abroad that once helped us develop our own economy, and our political obligations as the single largest counter to the adversaries of freedom.”

President Kennedy’s words were in reference to the United States of course, but as global citizens, we too have a moral obligation to do what we can to support our fellow human beings. We can all be Superman to Trump’s Lex Luthor. In the words of Clark Kent: “… until my dream of a world where dignity, honour and justice becomes the reality we all share – I'll never stop fighting."