The massive layoffs of healthcare workers will now trickle down to some of the most elite institutions in the country. Johns Hopkins University will soon eliminate more than 2,000 jobs as a result of recent cuts to the USAID, according to a report from NBC news. The cuts will involve 1,975 jobs internationally as well as 247 in the U.S. More than 100 employees are also set to be furloughed.
Most of the employees affected are affiliated with the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the medical school and an affiliate nonprofit organization. Here are how these layoffs will have devastating consequences for public health and the well-being of Americans.
One of the programs in India, known as Accelerate, will directly be affected by the cuts from Johns Hopkins. Since 2019, this program has helped in detecting and preventing HIV in India. Since its inception, it has provided testing for nearly 120,000 people for HIV, diagnosed 20,000 new cases and delivered medicine to about 8,000 children with HIV.
Without this program in full force, less children will receive HIV treatment, less Indians will be diagnosed with HIV and people will continue to suffer. The consequences may not occur overnight, but with time, people will have less access to medicines which will weaken their immune systems and allow them to acquire all sorts of infections that otherwise they would be protected against.
Dr. Sunil Solomon, an epidemiologist who helps lead Accelerate, said, “there definitely is gonna be a lot of lives lost from this program.”
Other important public health initiatives will also be affected in profound ways. Programs included to be halted include a tuberculosis research program as well as a clinical trial in Bangladesh designed to reduce outbreaks of cholera and other diarrheal diseases. A pause on these initiatives means more people abroad will start to transmit some of these deadly diseases like tuberculosis. Diseases do not have borders, and in the future, the health of Americans is at risk given the ease at which travel occurs and how readily diseases can be transmitted.
Johns Hopkins has been at the forefront of responding to global health emergencies, including but not limited to infectious disease outbreaks. Diminishing the workforce will impair rapid response capabilities, surveillance and research capabilities that remain essential for managing future health threats that are nearly always present such as the bird flu and measles.
Johns Hopkins and many institutions across the United States are already facing enormous funding challenges. The Trump administration last month planned to limit the National Institute of Health’s research grants by capping indirect costs to 15%, which translates to a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for many institutions including Johns Hopkins. Although the policy is currently being challenged in court, the amount of federal funding for research at institutions across the country remains uncertain.
All of these cuts in federal funding including the recent layoffs from prestigious institutions undermine academic autonomy and the integrity of public research. Critical and lifesaving health initiatives should remain free from political pressure. Universities should not have to choose between providing lifesaving care for HIV and funding the salaries of critical public health workers.
These actions set a dangerous precedent moving forward for protecting public health, research and humanitarian aid. The United States has always been a leader in global health, and it must continue to do so. The lives of millions of vulnerable people are dependent on it.
