Foreign aid cuts enter war of humans vs pathogens

A slow moving pandemic.

That’s how how some human and animal health experts are referring to the growing threat of “superbugs” — a popularized term for bacteria that is antimicrobial resistant (AMR) — also commonly known as antibiotic resistant.

They don’t go by that name for nothing, and they can be the cause of foodborne illnesses. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists antimicrobial resistance among the top 10 threats for global health, responsible for 1.3 million deaths annually and tied indirectly to another 5 million.

Worse yet, according to the findings of a recent high-level United Nations panel on AMR, the impact of this serious health problem is expected to grow. By 2050, the annual death toll from AMR is on track to exceed 10 million. As a result, by 2050, AMR will plunge 24 million people into extreme poverty annually. A landmark study publiched by Lancet last year had a gloomier outlook yet: 169 million deaths by 2050.

These are not sterile predictions hashed out by faceless number crunchers. They’re about you and me and people across the globe whether in industrialized or developing nations. 

As one report points out: “AMR anywhere is AMR everywhere.”

This simple, but powerful statement, is especially thought-provoking now that the Trump Administration has slashed foreign aid funding, some of which targeted preventing AMR in developing countries. 

They fear that this would leave the world face to face with a dire situation. Some diseases that are easily treated with antibiotics could become untreatable.

Important to include in this outlook is that many countries rely on global trade, which includes the importing and exporting  of meat, and produce, to and from other regions of the world.

What about that war
When bacteria start fighting against the antibiotics, it’s no different from any war . . . each side wants to survive. In this conflict, resistance happens when the bacteria develop the ability to evade or overcome the antibiotics designed to kill them. In this sort of situation, the batchria continue to grow and to outcompete their enemy,  thus potentially leading to infections that are harder, or even impossible to treat. Thus the name “super bugs.”

The trouble is that both animals and humans rely on some of the same antibiotics — among them penicillins and tetracyclines —to cure health problems. If these same antibiotics are overused or misused, there’s the risk of animals or humans developing antibiotic resistant pathogens.

Important to keep in mind: Antibiotics are drugs that fight infections caused by bacteria not viruses. Antibiotics are not effective against viral infections like the common cold, most sore throats, and the flu. 

What about food safety?
Food safety plays an important part in this. After all, everyone needs to eat, and food from animals, and even produce, contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria have already made their way into the food chain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if antibiotic-resistant bacteria is present in the food animals it can contaminate the meat. And that, in turn can infect a person with an antibiotic resistant strain of a foodborne pathogen such as E. coli or Salmonella that can’t be cured with antirbiotics, which would not be the case if the bacteria had not built up a resistance to antibiotics.

The same can be true for produce that doesn’t meet food-safety standards. 

In other words, contaminated animals, or produce, can become carriers.

What’s going on here?
When it comes to food, it all begins down on the farm. Years and years ago, farms were small, family-owned enterprises. And even veterinarians didn’t know much or anything about antibiotics for treating animals with diseases. But as time went on, farms began to get larger — and larger still. The term “corporate farms” began to be bantered around. And antibiotics became standard fare for animals on large farms.

In many large farming operations. animals live in crowded and unhealthy conditions. In cases like that farmers started routinely adding low doses of certain antibiotics to feed and water to promote growth and prevent health problems caused by overcrowding. That’s different from using them to to treat a specific medical problem.

That’s when, in the food world, the bacteria started fighting against the antibiotics. This is no different from any war . . . each side wants to survive. In this conflict, resistance happens when the bacteria develop the ability to evade the antibiotics designed to kill them. In this sort of situation, the germs continue to grow and to outcompete their enemy,  thus potentially leading to infections that are harder, or even impossible to treat.

In an attempt to fix this problem, the CDC stepped in and offered advice to livestock and poultry producers.

•       Only give antibiotics to animals under veterinary supervision.

        •       Don’t use antibiotics for growth promotion or to prevent diseases in healthy animals.

        •       Vaccinate animals to reduce the need for antibiotics.

        •       Support the implementation of effective interventions put in place to reduce the spread of AMR through the environment.

WHO also offered its own guidelines for national governments and the global food industry. These guidelines call for a prohibition on the use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention unless clinically diagnosed by a veterinarian.

On a broader scale, the CDC offers this perspective about what it refers to as antibiotic stewardship: Perhaps the single most important action needed to greatly slow down the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant infections is to change the way antibiotics are used. Up to half of antibiotic use in humans and much of antibiotic use in animals is unnecessary and inappropriate and makes everyone less safe.

Even so, according to recent research done by the Center for Disease Dynamic, Economics and Policy and the National Resources Defense Council, the use of antibiotics in livestock is rising while medical use in humans is falling.

“Our analysis shows 44 percent more medically important drugs are destined for cattle and swine than for human medical use,” says a website developed by the two associations.

About those foreign aid cuts
Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan of the One Health Trust was quoted in a Devex article about the potential effects of the U.S. foreign aid cuts on the antimicrobial resistance crisis. 

He warned that cuts in funding for disease surveillance and diagnostics would likely lead to widespread antimicrobial overuse as laboratories lose the capacity to confirm the presence of bacterial infections.

Kuastros Belaynehe, an Ethiopian AMR expert and former Food and Agriculture Organization employee, said that in the agrifood world, the simultaneous overuse and lack of access to antimicrobials is a double-edged sword.

He warned that failure to invest in AMR prevention could also lead to long-term food shortages and a rise in commodity prices. The projection shows that drug-resistant pathogens could jeopardize the food supply of more than 2 billion people by 2050.

Before the stop-work order, Bilaynehe was working with smallholder farmers to reduce antimicrobial use on farms. He said it had already started to demonstrate positive results, with a measurable reduction in the use of certain antimocrobials. A large part of the funding came from US-AID and has now been eliminated.

In Jordan, in a program that worked to reduce the unnecessary or inappropriate use of antibiotics, Rahmeh AbuShewimeh, an AMR expert, said that the work she was involved in was critically important. 

Without USAID support, she fears that her project, which was set to continue later this year has been put “on freeze” because of USAID funding cuts.

She describes the battle against AMR as a war between humans and pathosens — a war that needs the global community to come together in a wholehearted effort to prevent its spread.

Nicholas Enrich, a senior administrator for USAID Global Health, said in an internal memo to staff members that all or nearly all of the awards needed to implement lifesaving humanitarian aid were terminated on or before Feb. 27. He also warned that these cuts would in “no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization and threaten national security on a massive scale.”

Two days after his memo, he was fired.

These are just a few examples of the effects of the Trump Administration’s efforts to freeze U.S. foreign aid — $60 billion — and dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which implements most U.S. global health programs. Founded by President Kennedy in 1961, the agency has been responsible for administering civil foreign aid and development assistance.

Set up to counter the perceived threat of communism, Kennedy leaned into “soft power” – the use of programs and policies that promote capitalism, tout democracy, and position the U.S. as a global leader. The goal was to provide foreign aid and development assistance while advancing democracy.

On Jan. 20 this year the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order pausing foreign development assistance funding for 90 days. Four days later, the U.S. State Department issued a stop-work order on almost all global development and humanitarian programs that receive U.S. foreign aid. 

On  Feb. 2, the agency’s website was taken down. And its building is now closed.

On March 10, newly appointed director Marco Rubio said a 6-week review of the agency had been completed and that 83 percent of the programs had been cancelled.   

A memo to Congress on March 24 revealed that 86 percent of USAID programs were terminated, nearly all 10,000+ agency staff were fired, and all funding was eliminated for education, conflict mediation, civil society, and infrastructure. 

Lawsuits have been filed against the government. 

Although there has been some talk about possible exemptions to the funding cuts, many questions remain about the future of programs funded by the agency.

Go here (https://www.kff.org/u-s-foreign-aid-freeze-dissolution-of-usaid-timeline-of-events/) for an update of the situation.

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/05/foreign-aid-cuts-enter-war-of-humans-vs-pathogens/