The US Is Withdrawing From Global Health at a Dangerous Time
To keep an eye on some of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases, scientists rely on reports from the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network. Known affectionately as Gremlin, it's a grouping of more than 700 international labs that test about 500,000 patient samples annually. Gremlin monitors the prevalence of a huge range of pathogens in addition to those in its full name, including Covid-19, RSV, dengue, yellow fever and Ebola. And it does so on a remarkably modest budget: just $8 million a year, or less than 10% of the price tag for a single F-35 fighter jet.
Yet the program, which is managed by the World Health Organization, is suddenly on the brink of extinction. Gremlin depends on money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flagship US public-health agency. Since its establishment in 1946, the Atlanta-based CDC has worked on the front lines of every significant infectious disease outbreak, and if any of the threats that Gremlin tracks become a major problem, the agency will be expected to play the same role again. But shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, the lab network's staff learned its future was in doubt, because the US had pulled its funding, prompting an urgent scramble to find alternative donors.
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