Policy makers should weigh the likely health and financial harms to patients and providers of reducing Medicaid expenditures against the desirability of tax reductions, which would accrue mostly to wealthy Americans.

There has been great progress in improving global health in the last few decades. This progress has given hope of reaching many of the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. However, the recent funding cuts threaten to change these trajectories and lead to sharp increases in avoidable mortality for the poorest countries. Even a partial restoration of US funding would combat the most severe effects and provide time for national programs to adjust to the new funding landscape.

• Data Rescue Project
• Restored CDC
• Source Cooperative
• Wayback Machine

After pausing all foreign aid assistance by executive order on Inauguration Day, the administration permanently cancelled 83 percent of USAID’s global contracts just weeks later—a decision that public health experts warned would lead to preventable deaths and accelerate disease spread. 

If this foreign aid is not restored before the end of 2025, more than 176,000 additional adults and children around the world could die from HIV, according to excess death estimates from a new digital tracking initiative by Brooke Nichols, associate professor of global health. Her tracker also indicates that at least 62,000 additional people could die from tuberculosis (TB)—roughly one death every 7.7 minutes—if foreign aid does not resume by the end of the year, and these figures are steadily increasing.

These estimates are listed on Impact Counter, a real-time digital tracking website that Nichols utilises to quantify the real-world human impact of the recent US policy changes on humanitarian aid. On the site’s dashboard, Nichols provides up-to-date calculations of increases in mortality, disease spread, and healthcare costs for HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, neglected tropical diseases, and malnutrition. 

1. Look-Alike, Sound-Alike Medication Names (PDF) Confusing drug names is one of the most common causes of medication errors and is a worldwide concern. With tens of thousands of drugs currently on the market, the potential for error created by confusing brand or generic drug names and packaging is significant.
2. Patient Identification (PDF) The widespread and continuing failures to correctly identify patients often leads to medication, transfusion and testing errors; wrong person procedures; and the discharge of infants to the wrong families.
3. Communication During Patient Hand-Overs (PDF) Gaps in hand-over (or hand-off) communication between patient care units, and between and among care teams, can cause serious breakdowns in the continuity of care, inappropriate treatment, and potential harm for the patient.
4. Performance of Correct Procedure at Correct Body Site (PDF) Considered totally preventable, cases of wrong procedure or wrong site surgery are largely the result of miscommunication and unavailable, or incorrect, information. A major contributing factor to these types of errors is the lack of a standardized preoperative process.
5. Control of Concentrated Electrolyte Solutions (PDF) While all drugs, biologics, vaccines and contrast media have a defined risk profile, concentrated electrolyte solutions that are used for injection are especially dangerous.
6. Assuring Medication Accuracy at Transitions in Care (PDF) Medication errors occur most commonly at transitions. Medication reconciliation is a process designed to prevent medication errors at patient transition points.
7. Avoiding Catheter and Tubing Mis-Connections (PDF) The design of tubing, catheters, and syringes currently in use is such that it is possible to inadvertently cause patient harm through connecting the wrong syringes and tubing and then delivering medication or fluids through an unintended wrong route.
8. Single Use of Injection Devices (PDF) One of the biggest global concerns is the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), and the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) because of the reuse of injection needles.
9. Improved Hand Hygiene to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infection (HAI) (PDF) It is estimated that at any point in time more than 1.4 million people worldwide are suffering from infections acquired in hospitals. Effective hand hygiene is the primary preventive measure for avoiding this problem.

• Analysed serious event reports identifying neonatal injuries or death related to labour and delivery, published our findings in a report, and shared evidence-based strategies for mitigating the risks associated with shoulder dystocia.
• Worked with ambulatory surgical facilities to improve surgical site infection surveillance and reporting, including regional, in-person symposia throughout Pennsylvania on the identification of infection through the application of criteria and using hospital-acquired infection data to evaluate infection prevention programs.
• Published monthly newsletter articles featuring Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) reports, such as "What to Know About Glacial Acetic Acid: Stop Using It" and "Pica Behavior in Acute Care Hospitals: Strategies for Screening and Mitigating Risk of Harm." These were also disseminated in PSA's peer-reviewed journal, Patient Safety, which reaches more than 150,000 readers worldwide.
•  Embarked on an ambitious five-year strategic plan, Reimagine Patient Safety 2029, built on three main pillars: push the boundaries of information science to identify and understand patient safety issues, leverage relationships to implement changes that improve patient safety, and maintain a strong organizational culture that focuses on people and continuous organisational improvement.

News of PSNet’s fate was provided by Dr. Patrick Romano, a UC Davis paediatrician who, until now, had served as the co-editor-in-chief of PSNet's Editorial Team.

PSNet attracted researchers to make contributions because of its reach and rigor, and patients because of its authority stemming from its status within HHS and the peer-review vetting that every resource on the site received prior to publication. In other words, PSNet was seen as an oasis of reliability in a messy internet.

One seasoned expert agreed. “As an Emergency Department chief at a safety net hospital, I’ve relied on… PSNet’s extensive library of evidence-based resources—from best-practice guidelines and case studies to education modules and patient safety toolkits,” Dr. Jeremiah Schuur said. “Providers at every level, from nurses and pharmacists to hospital administrators, turn to this platform for strategies that reduce errors, lower costs, and improve outcomes.”

He added that the Trump administration’s decision to close the “cornerstone” of patient safety will hurt the general public by “compromising the quality and consistency of care across the entire healthcare landscape.”

PSNet has likely saved many lives, according to Paula Griswold, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, an organisation involved in public education on patient safety. Griswold said that PSNet’s clinical goals, including infection prevention and improvements in medication safety, had already had a huge impact. But, she said, the project could even do more. “Let’s improve it, not shut it down,” she said.

Axing PSNet is counterproductive, she said, because decreasing medical errors not only improves outcomes but saves both private and public money. “To cut that off at the knees shows a complete lack of understanding of the challenges."