When Cutting Aid Seems Like an Own Goal in Football?

The UK's Overseas Aid Budget cuts are having devastating effects on polio research, clean water projects and girls' education in many parts of the world. This is not a good look for a country wanting to be a 'world leader'. A 'rationale' used to defend the cuts, is that the UK can no longer afford the aid, as a consequence of the economic damage inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic. That was always a suspect argument. The initial Oversea Aid Budget was a specified percentage of the Gross National Product (GDP). Less economic activity means a lower GDP. The first cut was to the percentage of GDP allocated. There is, consequently, a smaller percentage of a smaller amount allocated to Overseas Aid. You would have thought that even a financially-challenged UK would, however, be keen to do its bit to control its old 'enemy', Covid-19. It transpires, however, that the budget cuts will also seriously damage UK participation in Covid-19 monitoring and research (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/30/uks-aid-cuts-hit-vital-coronavirus-research-around-world). The UK has a proven track record in genomics, the technique used to identify variants of Sars-CoV-2. The country has long agonised about 'worrying' variants, with increased infectiveness and/or some resistance to vaccination. The Overseas Aid Budget cuts will, however, virtually halt UK participation in coronavirus research. Various projects involve tracking variants in Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Indonesia will no longer have UK involvement. These are all countries we should be concerned about, if we want to ever return to a pre-pandemic world. As one of the scientists involved noted, cuts to budgets can be made with the stroke of a pen but it may take years (if it ever happens?) to rebuild confidence in the UK as a partner of multi-agency programmes. Short-sighted is hardly an adequate description!