📝 Here's my takeaway: With #foreignaid dwindling & upheaval in #globaldev, millions of lives are at stake, abroad & at home (Remember Covid?)

Research like this helps leaders do ⬆️ with ⬇️, devise better ways to construct policy or apply practice, & make smart 💰 decisions. We need more evidence.

🎤

The team found the impacts were driven by:
⬆️ hospital births
⬆️ rest for pregnant women
⬆️ nutrition

They were also greatest in areas close to health clinics - so 💸 is not a replacement for health infrastructure, but works hand-in-glove with it.

🤔 But what can we make of these findings?

A New Way to Reduce Children’s Deaths: Cash

The findings are stunning: 48% fewer infant deaths before 1 and 45% fewer child deaths before 5. This rivals public health tools like vaccinations and antimalarial drugs.

The NYT took note: nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

So did NPR's All Things Considered: npr.org/2025/08/18/n...

Partnering with @give-directly.bsky.social, they studied:
✅ one-time, unconditional cash payments of $1,000
✅ to 10,500 households in rural Kenya
✅ delivered 2014-2017
✅ using census info about changes in family composition, employment, health and more.

🗓️ This took years to analyze!

Cash Transfers Dramatically Cut Infant Mortality in Kenya, New Research Finds Berkeley, CA (18 Aug. 2025) — With the global development community facing financial upheaval, global development goals increasingly out of reach, and the need for aid greater than ever, new...

🚨 Evidence alert: RCT from a @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social / @ox.ac.uk team found that unconditional cash xfers led to 48% ⬇️ infant deaths in Kenya. 🧢 off to team behind this study: Michael Walker, @tedmiguel.bsky.social, Dennis Egger, Nick Shankar, and Grady Killeen.

go.cega.org/cashimpacts

A 🧵

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations “In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...
Brilliant. No notes!

The 13th Africa Evidence Summit kicks off with @deankarlan.bsky.social, Catherine Kyobutungi ( @aphrc.bsky.social) and Emilie Oftedal (@norad.no) discussing how the #globaldev sector can respond to the recent cuts to foreign aid. #AES2025 @cega-uc.bsky.social

Excited for this stellar line-up of #globaldev leaders looking at the future of foreign aid using #evidence, innovation, and collaboration. CEGA, @busaracenter.bsky.social, and the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa showing how partnership can chart a path forward and improve lives.

Samantha Power attacks 'cowardice' of Rubio and 'ignorance' of DOGE Two former USAID administrators delivered a powerful bipartisan defense of the agency’s workforce, condemning the Trump administration’s dismantling of what was once the largest aid agency in the worl...

“This cowardice stands in marked contrast to the bravery of the workers of #USAID, who put themselves in harm’s way and risked their lives to answer this country’s call.”

Sam Power quoted in this fab story from Devex's @elissamio.bsky.social that pulls you right in.

www.devex.com/news/samanth...

Evidence as an Antidote to Chaos Carson Christiano is the executive director of the Center for Effective Global Action. Reflecting on the recent changes in federal support for research and the global development community, below...

With global aid budget cuts, evidence is even more crucial.

Executive Director @carsonchristiano.bsky.social calls for investing in research to maximize impact with limited resources, especially in cost-effectiveness initiatives like CEGA's PILCEE program. #econsky
cega.berkeley.edu/article/evid...

Sad, sad news. We've lost a great.

So proud to have co-organized this rally, w/ inspiring + brave speeches from @tedmiguel.bsky.social, @fdoperez.bsky.social, @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social+20 more and 1000+ attendees! We need to keep fighting against the depraved stream of chaos flooding this country and damaging the rest of the world.

You're right! I missed that in my rush, apologies. Clockwise from top right: Jennifer Doudna addresses the crowd. Wide shot of attendees with Sproul Hall in background. Wide shot of crowd with MLK Jr. student union in background. Wide shot of crowd as Edward Miguel is interviewed in foreground.

Scenes from the incredible turnout today at Berkeley's @standupforscience.bsky.social rally. @tedmiguel.bsky.social, @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social, and dozens of researchers, elected officials, and citizens defended science and the jobs, health benefits, and progress it creates for all Americans.

Jennifer Doudna speaking at Stand Up for Science in Berkeley

crowd at Stand Up for Science in Berkeley

crowd at Stand Up for Science in Berkeley

crowd at Stand Up for Science in Berkeley

Thanks to out @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social community for joining us at Stand Up For Science! @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social spoke about how NIH funding supported her PhD & NSF funding supported her development of #CRISPR genome editing. Federal funding is needed for life-saving science!

🏛️ ✊ TODAY: Stand Up For Science at UC Berkeley, CA
🧪
@standupforscience.bsky.social
#standupforscience2025

Out of the lab and into the streets, researchers and doctors rally for science against Trump cuts Researchers, doctors, their patients and supporters are venturing out of labs, hospitals and offices across the country to stand up to what they call an attack on life-saving science by the Trump admi...

“Out of the lab and into the streets, researchers and doctors rally for science against Trump cuts” by @borenbears.bsky.social for @apnews.com. Read more here:

apnews.com/article/scie...

Exclusive: UN to slash rations to Rohingya refugees by half to $6 per month, official says The United Nations will cut food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 per month next month after failing to find funds, an official said, raising fears among aid workers of rising hunger in the world’s largest refugee settlement.

If your grocery budget was halved, what would you do?

#rohingya

www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Science is an engine of economic, social, and political progress. On Friday, a nationwide movement of scientists + concerned citizens will rally against recent federal actions and orders that have created a risk to our economy, well-being, and society. Berkeley event: standup4scienceberkeley.com.

A mostly blank page with the words Strong and Free, from the English version of the Canadian national anthem ) Below the fold of this newspaper sheet , in smaller type, news and editorial references to the trade war

This is the first page of this morning’s edition of the Globe and Mail (arguably the English Canadian paper of record)
I don’t remember seeing anything like this before

"Developing a device that could treat severe bleeding. It seems to have caught the committee’s attention for using the words “victims” — as in gunshot victims — and “trauma.” Creating biosensors to detect infectious diseases. The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care” — that is, the place where people receive medical treatment — and “barrier,” referring to a part of the biosensor itself. Designing eye-tracking technology for diagnosing and treating concussions. It appears to have gotten flagged for referencing “traumatic” brain injuries and the “status,” meaning the condition, of patients."

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh.

This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

A Lethal Mystery Illness Is Spreading in Congo. USAID Cuts Have Slowed the Response Gutting USAID is already having a devastating impact around the world. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, teams that would normally be racing to identify a fatal sickness are gone.

There's an unidentified illness outbreak in the Congo right now. I talked to experts, including a doctor on the ground, about how US aid cuts have hampered the response: www.wired.com/story/race-t...

Pleased that the ProPublica brand is strong enough that if I casually ask a friend about her workplace, her immediate response is, "Wait, are you investigating us?!"

This. A million times this.

CEGA | New insights and tools to improve lives YouTube video by Center for Effective Global Action

Hello from CEGA!

We generate rigorous research on global poverty, using innovative data, methods, and partnerships, to improve the lives of millions.

We also provide policymakers & funders cost-effective strategies to scale evidence-backed solutions for development.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fps...

It is really hard to watch people willfully tear down an infrastructure that allowed us to double lifespans, drastically reduce poverty, and become one of the richest countries in the world.

Difficult to put into words how catastrophic this is for millions of people right now - maybe billions of future lives.

👏👏👏

Hey, university friends… Breathe.

The recent slashing of NIH indirect cost rates is unlikely to survive. It’s another Trump stunt.

Courts will have a say. And so will OMB.

And pharmaceutical companies won’t stand for it. NIH-backed research enjoys a ton of congressional (and lobbyist) support.