Angola and South Sudan shut their CDC offices last week, and Zimbabwe’s office is due to close by year-end as the agency begins winding down overseas posts.
Oct. 1 funding deals with 35 countries now require recipient governments to choose which CDC services they want and assume a growing share of health costs, reflecting Trump’s “America First” approach.
State Department officials say those selections will keep CDC overseas funding at or above prior years, but current and former staff expect more than a dozen offices to close and say the numbers do not support a robust presence.
The retrenchment hits an agency already down 30% in staffing since Trump took office after last year’s USAID shutdown and DOGE cuts, and critics warn it could weaken outbreak detection abroad, including during the Ebola response in central Africa.
Will the closure of overseas CDC offices leave the world blind to the next major pandemic before it crosses international borders?
As global health aid shifts to a fee-for-service model, can developing nations rapidly fund critical disease surveillance without risking millions of lives?
Could shrinking the global health footprint actually force a faster, more resilient modernization of independent healthcare systems in developing nations?
"The 30% Collapse: CDC Leadership Crisis and Workforce Attrition Amid U.S. Global Health Retrenchment, 2025–2026"
Overview
The report details how the Trump administration’s dissolution of USAID and sweeping layoffs at the CDC triggered a cascade of global health crises. USAID’s closure led to the State Department taking over health programs, canceling most awards and terminating the majority of staff. This, combined with a new policy requiring foreign governments to co-invest and share sensitive assets, resulted in the closure of key CDC country offices, such as in Zimbabwe, and the loss of funding for countries refusing U.S. terms. The CDC itself lost up to 30% of its workforce, with mass resignations and burnout, leaving it unable to respond effectively to outbreaks like Ebola and measles, and forcing the shutdown of vital disease and chronic health programs. These changes have severely weakened U.S. and global health security, with experts warning of dire consequences for outbreak response and public safety.