Musk Claims Africa’s Death Rate Fell After USAID Funding Cuts

Tesla Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has claimed that deaths across Africa declined after the United States cut funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), dismissing warnings that the aid reductions would trigger a humanitarian crisis on the continent.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Musk argued that mortality data from Africa showed no significant increase in deaths following the funding cuts. He instead alleged that some USAID programmes had fuelled political instability by supporting efforts to install left-leaning governments through violent revolutions.

Backing his claim, Musk shared an analysis based on South Africa’s all-cause mortality data. The figures, which tracked weekly deaths from January 2023 to May 2026, indicated that excess deaths remained close to zero and below projected levels even after the USAID and PEPFAR funding reductions.

The billionaire also cited previous academic research questioning the effectiveness of foreign aid, including a 2019 study that found little statistical evidence linking aid spending to improvements in life expectancy or reductions in mortality in developing countries.

His comments contrast with warnings from humanitarian organisations and health experts. A study published in The Lancet projected that the global aid cuts could contribute to more than 14 million deaths by 2030, while other estimates warned that the loss of US funding for HIV programmes could cost more than 1.6 million lives within a year.

Despite the projections, Musk maintained that available data from Africa does not support claims that the aid cuts have increased deaths. He insisted the reductions were necessary to curb waste, corruption and the misuse of American taxpayers’ money, while arguing that ending the programmes had removed a source of conflict rather than worsening conditions on the continent.