Reinstate USAID funding to protect medical research, lives

Congressional action is imperative to reverse the unilateral dismantling of USAID and the catastrophic impact this has had on critical global health research. The abrupt withdrawal of funding and stop-work orders have forced dozens of clinical trials testing treatments and preventions for deadly diseases to shut down. This has left thousands of participants, often from underserved populations, with experimental drugs or medical devices in their bodies but no access to the monitoring, care, and oversight that rigorous scientific protocols require. Abandoning these vulnerable individuals is unconscionable and a dereliction of ethical obligations. It also jeopardizes years of invaluable research and imperils future trust in medical studies. As a professed Christian, enacting legislation to immediately reinstate USAID's funding and resume these trials under proper clinical conditions is a moral imperative aligned with core values of protecting human life, supporting the sick and disadvantaged, and upholding justice. The lives of people around the world depending on this research hang in the balance.