Elon Musk Faces Widespread International Outrage After Feeding USAID 'Into the Wood Chipper' at DOGE

Billionaire Elon Musk is facing renewed international criticism over his role in sweeping cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after previously saying the agency had been put 'into the wood chipper' during his stint with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Trump administration's restructuring of US foreign aid beginning in early 2025 disrupted programmes around the world, prompting concern across Africa and the global health community.

To recall, the drastic changes began shortly after Musk joined Donald Trump in Washington as a leading figure in DOGE, an efficiency task force aimed at slashing federal spending. USAID was among the agencies targeted as the administration moved to cancel programmes, place staff on leave and dramatically reduce its operations.

USAID Cuts Raise Global Health Concerns

The rapid reductions disrupted medical and humanitarian programmes serving vulnerable populations across developing countries. Researchers writing in the British medical journal The Lancet projected that continued steep cuts to USAID funding could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including about 4.5 million deaths among children younger than 5.

The researchers stressed that these were forecasts based on modelling rather than deaths already documented as directly caused by the cuts. Their analysis examined data from 133 low- and middle-income countries and territories and projected what could happen if the reductions continued.

The controversy has also intersected with opposition to Musk's business interests in South Africa, where Starlink has faced regulatory and political hurdles. As of June 2026, however, South Africa's communications department said Starlink had not formally submitted the relevant licence applications to the country's communications regulator, ICASA.

Jeremy Konyndyk, a public health specialist who previously served as director of USAID's Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, has been among former officials warning about the consequences of dismantling the agency's disease-surveillance and emergency-response capabilities. Critics have pointed particularly to disruptions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries dependent on US-backed humanitarian programmes.

Musk himself celebrated the effort to dismantle USAID, writing on X about putting the agency 'into the wood chipper.' His remarks became a shorthand among critics for the speed and severity of the restructuring.

A Potentially Devastating Toll on Global Healthcare

The impact on international health programmes became a major concern as stop-work orders and funding cancellations disrupted services dealing with HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition and other health threats.

The Lancet analysis found that USAID support had been associated with substantial reductions in mortality from diseases including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis over the previous two decades. Its researchers warned that abruptly withdrawing that support could reverse some of those gains.

Evidence of individual deaths linked to disrupted aid has also emerged, although calculating a definitive global death toll remains difficult. Recent reporting from Nepal, for example, documented maternal and infant deaths in communities where US-funded health outreach programmes had disappeared following the aid cuts.

Estimates circulating among former officials and researchers have attempted to quantify the broader human toll, but these figures rely heavily on epidemiological modelling and should not be treated as confirmed counts of deaths directly attributable to DOGE.

Musk Defends His DOGE Record

When confronted about claims that the cuts had contributed to deaths during a July 2026 interview with The Economist, Musk rejected the accusation outright.

'Zero,' Musk responded when challenged over whether people had died because of DOGE's actions. He also dismissed reports about disrupted programmes as 'nonsense' and argued that some organisations whose funding was terminated had an incentive to produce sympathetic accounts in an effort to restore it.

Musk further suggested that private philanthropic organisations, including the Gates Foundation, had sufficient resources to help replace some of the withdrawn funding. When The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes argued that the speed of the reductions had probably caused unnecessary suffering and deaths, Musk responded that the claim was 'totally false.'

His assertion remains strongly disputed. Researchers and former USAID officials have linked the abrupt withdrawal of funding to interruptions in healthcare, nutrition and disease-prevention programmes, while Musk has challenged critics to identify people whose deaths can definitively be attributed to DOGE's actions.

Financial and Political Fallout

The controversy also coincided with a difficult period for Musk's businesses and personal fortune in 2025, as Tesla faced declining sales in some markets and protests over its chief executive's political activities.

However, attributing changes in Musk's net worth or Tesla's share price primarily to opposition to USAID cuts would go beyond the available evidence. Tesla's valuation has historically fluctuated for numerous reasons, including vehicle sales, earnings expectations, competition and investor sentiment surrounding Musk himself.

Musk eventually left his formal government role in 2025 after his period as a special government employee came to an end, although he later criticised elements of Trump's fiscal agenda.

His brief government tenure continues to draw scrutiny because of the speed with which DOGE sought to restructure federal agencies and foreign-aid programmes. The full human consequences of the USAID reductions remain disputed, but researchers warn that maintaining the cuts could have severe effects over the remainder of the decade.

The Lancet study provides one of the starkest projections: more than 14.05 million additional deaths by 2030 if the steep funding reductions continue. It remains a forecast rather than a confirmed toll, while Musk continues to maintain that 'zero' deaths resulted from DOGE's actions