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I read this a while back, but forgot to post it here. The NY Times wrote about how DOGE cuts will affect not just South Africa, but how those funding cuts will affect much much more than people might expect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/health/south-africa-medical-research-trump.html
South Africa has for decades been a medical research powerhouse, yet its stature has been little known to people outside the field. South Africa’s scientists have been responsible for key breakthroughs against major global killers, including heart disease, H.I.V. and respiratory viruses such as Covid-19. They have worked closely with American researchers and have been awarded more research funding from the United States than any other country has received.
But a swift series of executive orders and budget cuts from the Trump administration have, in a matter of months, demolished this research ecosystem.
There are grim ramifications for human health worldwide, and also for pharmaceutical companies, including American giants such as Pfizer, Merck, Abbott and Gilead Sciences, which rely heavily on South Africa’s research complex when they develop and test new drugs, vaccines and treatments.
Pharmaceutical companies have relied on the country for clinical trials for decades. Some are now rethinking their relationship with South Africa, according to people familiar with the discussions.
And as just another layer of WTF racism, the US found a way to still keep experimenting on Black people, just not in our own country but overseas. *head desk*
“The implications of this are huge,” said Dr. Ntobeko Ntusi, chief executive of the South African Medical Research Council. “One of the biggest success stories to come out of South Africa in the last three decades, largely aided through the generosity of American people, has been the development of this high-caliber cadre of scientists who’ve led scholarship that has been seminal not just for South Africa but for the whole world.”
The first-ever heart transplant was performed in Cape Town in 1967. The CT scanner was invented in South Africa. So were many now-common surgical techniques. Vaccines and drugs that are widely used in the United States — including treatments for high blood pressure and the immunization for R.S.V. — came out of South African research.
And also, goddamn us for throwing all these highly trained doctors and scientists out of work.
South Africa’s research might is a legacy of its harsh history. Apartheid-era governments neglected the health of millions of Black people but invested in educational institutions and medical innovation for the white population. In the decades since the country transitioned to a multiracial democracy, those educational institutions have been open to everyone. But efforts to extend basic health care have been slow, which means the country still has a high rate of disease. That, in turn, makes for a grimly efficient place to conduct research.
Because the South African rand is a weaker currency — running about 20 to a U.S. dollar — running studies in South Africa costs a fraction of what it does in the United States.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/health/south-africa-medical-research-trump.html
South Africa has for decades been a medical research powerhouse, yet its stature has been little known to people outside the field. South Africa’s scientists have been responsible for key breakthroughs against major global killers, including heart disease, H.I.V. and respiratory viruses such as Covid-19. They have worked closely with American researchers and have been awarded more research funding from the United States than any other country has received.
But a swift series of executive orders and budget cuts from the Trump administration have, in a matter of months, demolished this research ecosystem.
There are grim ramifications for human health worldwide, and also for pharmaceutical companies, including American giants such as Pfizer, Merck, Abbott and Gilead Sciences, which rely heavily on South Africa’s research complex when they develop and test new drugs, vaccines and treatments.
Pharmaceutical companies have relied on the country for clinical trials for decades. Some are now rethinking their relationship with South Africa, according to people familiar with the discussions.
And as just another layer of WTF racism, the US found a way to still keep experimenting on Black people, just not in our own country but overseas. *head desk*
“The implications of this are huge,” said Dr. Ntobeko Ntusi, chief executive of the South African Medical Research Council. “One of the biggest success stories to come out of South Africa in the last three decades, largely aided through the generosity of American people, has been the development of this high-caliber cadre of scientists who’ve led scholarship that has been seminal not just for South Africa but for the whole world.”
The first-ever heart transplant was performed in Cape Town in 1967. The CT scanner was invented in South Africa. So were many now-common surgical techniques. Vaccines and drugs that are widely used in the United States — including treatments for high blood pressure and the immunization for R.S.V. — came out of South African research.
And also, goddamn us for throwing all these highly trained doctors and scientists out of work.
South Africa’s research might is a legacy of its harsh history. Apartheid-era governments neglected the health of millions of Black people but invested in educational institutions and medical innovation for the white population. In the decades since the country transitioned to a multiracial democracy, those educational institutions have been open to everyone. But efforts to extend basic health care have been slow, which means the country still has a high rate of disease. That, in turn, makes for a grimly efficient place to conduct research.
Because the South African rand is a weaker currency — running about 20 to a U.S. dollar — running studies in South Africa costs a fraction of what it does in the United States.
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