President Donald Trump’s MAHA – Make America Healthy Again – movement has awakened the country to rethink how we care for our bodies and the unhealthy products we may be consuming. This focus is welcome news, whether limiting pesticides, artificial dyes and additives or addressing the root causes of issues like obesity, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
These, as they say, are first-world problems. Our country has so much, our mega grocery stores are full of every kind of food and the choices are endless as we have almost everything our hearts (and stomachs) could ever want.
But that’s not true everywhere. Those in the most impoverished places in the world are also deserving to live healthier lives and reach their God-given potential, but often their issues are much more dire and deadly. Many countries are still battling maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and infectious diseases that especially impact children — issues largely eradicated in the U.S. decades ago.
As one of the richest countries in the world, the United States has invested trillions in medical research and technology that have made our lives better and healthier. We are grateful to live in a country that allows such innovation so our families can thrive.
With this wealth comes responsibility. America First means America leads and that includes on health issues, even on a global scale, not just for the sake of saving human lives but to strengthen our own national and economic security.
We saw firsthand what can happen when a health issue crosses our borders. From China came a devastating virus that crushed the world. The impact of COVID-19 may never fully be realized, but we can never forget what it did to the economy, to children’s education, social wellness and mental health, and our entire way of life.
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A great lesson from COVID-19 makes clear that the investment the U.S. makes in helping other countries treat and eliminate disease around the world is in our national interest. If the world has a health problem, America may soon have a health problem — as we now see with the threat of hantavirus.
When it assumed the reins of government in 2025, the Trump Administration rightly examined all of the federal government programs and, in particular, foreign aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development. As government agencies sometimes do — particularly when transferred from one administration to another – aspects of USAID had strayed from its original mission with some controversial programs that didn’t align with the majority of Americans.
There’s no doubt the Administration had to reevaluate our priorities in U.S. aid. Following its review, the President and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have focused on key programs that are delivering for the world and for Americans here at home.
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was first implemented in 2004 while I was serving then-President George W. Bush. He saw the need to assist primarily African nations in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as an entire generation of children was at risk of dying. Because of the compassion and generosity of the American people, PEPFAR has saved more than 26 million lives and prevented 7.8 million babies from being born with HIV. Yet, 40.8 million people currently have the disease. The President plans to lower that number dramatically by using the antiretroviral treatment that the U.S. supplies through PEPFAR.
The President’s Malaria Initiative has built critical infrastructure for disease surveillance and rapid outbreak response, strengthening health security across Africa and Asia to contain diseases like Ebola and Marburg before they reach the United States. Reducing malaria cases by 90 percent by 2030 could increase international trade by $80.7 billion and boost exports from key ally countries, including the United States, by $3.9 billion. Malaria, however, is on the rise, even though we know how to prevent it.
President Trump’s goal, according to his America First Global Health Strategy, is to eradicate malaria in at least 35 countries. To accomplish this important goal, his team is working with the private sector and coalition partners in other parts of the world. Since its founding in 2000 as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Gavi has immunized more than 1 billion children worldwide, saving an estimated 19 million children’s lives and contributing to global stability.
In September, the State Department announced a new partnership with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Gilead Sciences to take concrete steps toward the President’s goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV within his second term.
Under the President’s leadership, all of these programs not only are increasingly working with partner country governments to ensure they are sustainable, but they are also partnering with faith-based groups, churches, and local partners who often know their communities best and can reach the “last mile.”
The January 2025 Ebola outbreak in Uganda underscores the effectiveness and importance of U.S. investments like these in partner countries. Because of longstanding U.S. partnerships, Uganda’s health system successfully detected and contained the outbreak in a matter of weeks, with just a dozen Ebola cases and no reported spread to other countries, a far better outcome than when Ebola landed in Dallas over a decade ago.
These priorities on global health and the resources that go toward eradicating diseases in other parts of the world help make America safer, stronger, more prosperous, and healthier. Investing the resources Congress has appropriated for these programs will be critical for this lifesaving work.
As we celebrate 250 years of how America is truly a blessed nation, it’s a reminder that to whom much is given, much is required. Our commitment to helping the vulnerable and the needy around the world makes America healthy again, both physically and spiritually.
Horace Cooper is a longtime political and legal analyst, he taught constitutional law at GMU, and is the author of two books, the most recent of which is “Put Ya’ll Back in Chains."
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