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A First Hand Report on CDC Changes with Trump 2.0

Published on 10/13/2026

In September, new League member, Sharon Stash, talked to the group about her experiences during her career as an epidemiologist with the CDC. She discussed major changes in U.S. global health and foreign assistance policy beginning in January, 2025. She stated that there were major changes, including: a near-total foreign assistance freeze, major USAID program cancellations and staff layoffs, CDC staff reductions, reduced multilateral engagement, as well as withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

She used Nepal, a country where she had worked, as an example of the effects. Ms. Stash described how aid cuts resulted in reduced U.S. coordination capacity which affected disaster response, health programs, local jobs, and recovery efforts after the glacier collapse with the resulting severe flooding.

To learn more, you can view a recording of the presentation. It can be accessed on the LWVBWC website by clicking on Our Work, then selecting Healthcare or watch on YouTube here.

The next Healthcare Issues Team will be on Zoom on Monday, October 19th, at 10 am. Dr. Lombard, a kidney donor, and a kidney recipient will join us to talk about the kidney “Moonshot,” a project to eliminate the kidney transplant list in Whatcom County. Click here to register.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and suggestions for meeting topics or anything else related to healthcare.

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