At the Qatar Economic Forum, Elon Musk was asked about PEPFAR — the U.S. program established by President George W. Bush to save lives from AIDS in Africa. Musk was skeptical — adamant, really — that there have been any interruptions in the program on account of the DOGE house-cleaning at the State Department’s USAID. He insisted that he be made aware of any stoppages, any medication that is not making its way to children, and he will “fix it.” I do hope he has that power. My understanding is that whole clinics have closed, because even communications about funding have been shut down — and it is hard to get a handle on all of it because of all the sudden staff eliminations. (How do you get a waiver if whole offices were shut down?) I do want to believe he’s ignorant about all of this. And if he is as concerned as his insistence — both that it isn’t happening and that if it is, he will fix it — suggests, he should ask the president to appoint a czar (I dislike that word, but it gives the idea) to undo the damage to PEPFAR and some other truly humanitarian aid programs that DOGE unintentionally damaged:

A few weeks ago, I talked with Dr. Jonathan Ellen — a pediatrician, epidemiologist, public-health researcher, and former hospital CEO — and Francesca Merico, who is a Geneva-based advocate for children’s rights, health equity, and social justice, with over 20 years of experience in public health. The two of them talked about some of the negative impact DOGE cuts have, again, unintentionally had. And Dr. Ellen made the czar suggestion — someone who knows how PEPFAR works and can get things back online before disease spreads — a concern that is more than humanitarian, frankly.

Watch our discussion here:

Note: This post has been edited since posting.