HHS Staff Cuts Mean Uneasy Breathing in Black Communities
Layoffs at Health and Human Services threaten anti-smoking and asthma programs that benefit Black Americans.
Sweeping staff cuts announced last week at the federal Department of Health and Human Services have respiratory-health organizations sounding the alarm, warning of fewer resources to treat asthma, fight Big Tobacco, and help smokers quit — health issues that disproportionately affect the Black community.
The cuts, part of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to slash 10,000 employees from the department’s full-time workforce, will gut government programs that address asthma rates, smoking and health, global tuberculosis rates, and control of tobacco products. They also threaten to undo the decades-long work of reducing smoking rates and helping clean the air for asthma sufferers.
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