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RT Nicholas Kristof: .@elonmusk says that no one can name a person who died from his aid cuts. In fact, I've met the kids who are dying, and I've talk...

Nicholas Kristof responds to Elon Musk's claim that no one can name a person who died from his aid cuts, citing specific names like Yamah Freeman, Gbessey Kiadu, Ibrahim Koroma, and Achol Deng who died due to funding cuts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.

Background

- Nicholas Kristof is a veteran New York Times columnist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner known for human-rights reporting, particularly on global health and poverty. - Elon Musk, via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has overseen sweeping cuts to USAID (the U.S. foreign aid agency) and related international health programs as part of a broader effort to shrink the federal budget. - The exchange: Musk claimed publicly that his critics cannot name a single person who died as a direct result of these aid cuts. Kristof, who has reported extensively from affected regions, posted this thread naming specific individuals and their documented deaths after USAID funding was pulled. - The core dispute is not about budget numbers but about verifiable human impact — whether there is evidence that specific identifiable people died because of disrupted medical supply chains, fuel for ambulances, and healthcare worker funding. - USAID historically funds malaria bed nets, HIV antiretrovirals, maternal health programs, and emergency transport in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan — all places Kristof has reported from for decades.