Cuts to U.S. and global health are an opportunity and responsibility for Canada to do more, conference hears.
Even as the former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was issuing a warning about the global impact of U.S. health cuts to a conference of Canadian doctors in Ottawa on Thursday, news of 10,000 more layoffs to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was breaking.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist who is now president and CEO of the non-profit Resolve to Save Lives, said the “abrupt and chaotic” funding cuts to global and domestic health care programs, research and services will make the U.S. and the world less healthy and less safe.
Frieden was among panelists who talked about how U.S. health policy could shake up Canada during the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Health Summit 2025 in Ottawa this week. Other panelists included health ministers from Ontario and Manitoba as well as Newfoundland Premier Dr. Andrew Furey, who is an orthopedic surgeon.
Frieden said the cuts will increase health risks around the world and lower the health of Americans.
“A weaker CDC means a sicker USA,” he said. “The CDC has contributed to saving millions of lives. Cutting this work puts everyone at greater risk.”
That risk from broad health and research cuts in the U.S. will directly impact Canada, he warned, in the form of more infectious diseases crossing the border from the U.S. and from around the world because of dramatic domestic health cuts as well as U.S. cuts to global health.
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“We are hearing about moves day by day which will affect immunization globally and will affect influenza tracking, polio virus, TB, HIV, malaria and so much more, and could lead to the deaths of millions of children. These are chaotic, not well thought out, and essentially pulling the rug out from partnerships that have been built over the years and decades.”
Among those announcements since U.S. President Donald Trump took power in January have been decisions to pull out of the World Health Organization and GAVI, a global health alliance that aims to save lives by increasing immunization in low- and middle-income countries.
The Canadian government pledged $675 million in new funding to GAVI earlier this month as the impact of U.S. cuts was becoming clear.
Frieden called the situation both an opportunity and responsibility for Canada to do more.
“There is the potential for Canada, which has been a strategic and generous partner in global health initiatives, to do even more. As an American, it is hard for me to ask you to do that, given what our government is doing, but the fact is there are huge challenges around the world and there is going to be a need to mitigate the damage.”
He said investing in global health pays dividends, but acknowledged that the gaps left by the U.S. exit from global public health efforts will leave gaps that will be difficult to fill.
Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter with the New York Times who was also part of the panel, said Canada could fill a growing gap for trustworthy information about health.
“We are hearing that HHS (Health and Human Services) and the federal government are going to be centralizing all communications and, as you may know, our health secretary is not a big fan of vaccines. I think Americans will want other sources of information, and that is a void Canada could fill by providing easy-to-access information for Americans.”
Provincial health ministers Sylvia Jones from Ontario and Uzoma Asagwara from Montreal, along with Furey from Newfoundland also talked about the potential impact of tariffs from the U.S.
“We are very much actively watching and preparing for what the tariffs will mean,” said Jones, who noted that Ontario recently announced the addition of 49 MRI machines across the province. “We don’t make MRI machines in Ontario, so that has a direct impact. Many of these machines are already in place, but there are a number that are going to be heavily impacted by tariffs.” Much of the medicine procured by the province will also be affected, she said.
She said the province is looking at what industries and manufacturing it can boost or bring in to the province.
Furey agreed that supply chain issues and tariffs will put pressure on provinces and territories, for which health is the biggest budget item.
“But he said there is another issue provinces should focus on — the fact that growing numbers of people, in both the U.S. and Canada, no longer subscribe to evidence-based medicine.
“There is fundamentally a shift in the societal thinking about healthcare in the United States, and we are not immune to that here in Canada either. We as leaders, as physicians, as service providers, as journalists, we need to make sure that we are continuing to instill trust in the system itself.”
Furey said the impacts of the Trump administration have also increased Canadian pride and pride in the public health system, but people are also demanding that the health system be more robust and modernized.
“The public is demanding it evolves to meet a modern Canada and some of that requires investment.” Furey said he believes Canada is facing a generational opportunity to “own who we are” to protect Canadians’ values and to strengthen the health system.
