A Sierra Leonean infant has been named among the victims of US foreign aid cuts during a public debate on X by a New York Times columnist.

Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, responded to a post by Elon Musk, in which the world’s richest man claimed that critics of his aid cuts cannot “cite a single name of someone who died.” Kristof provided four names—including a baby from Sierra Leone.

“Ibrahim Koroma, an infant, died of AIDS in Sierra Leone after you interrupted HIV supplies,” Kristof wrote in his response on X. “I talked to health workers who cared for him“.

The exchange began when an X user defended Musk, arguing that blame for deaths should not fall on him. Musk responded: “Exactly. And they cannot cite a single name of someone who died out of the ‘millions’ they falsely claim have died. Not a single name!“

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Kristof also named Yamah Freeman, a 23-year-old Liberian woman who died in childbirth after funding for ambulance fuel was cut; Gbessey Kiadu, a one-year-old Liberian who died of malaria; and Achol Deng, an eight-year-old girl with HIV in South Sudan who died after funding for her healthcare worker was cut.

“I could go on and on,” Kristof wrote. “In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts“.

He challenged Musk to accompany him on a reporting trip. “Come with me on a reporting trip, and we’ll talk to these moms and dads, and you’ll see the dying children themselves. I think if you see the kids whose lives are at stake, maybe you’ll change your mind“.

You can see his tweet here,

Musk did not directly address the names provided. Instead, he responded with a series of expletive-laden posts, calling Kristof “utterly evil” and a “liar”.

Others questioned why Musk should be blamed for the deaths. X user @manemauvuvuevue wrote: “So Elon is supposed to pay: Gas bills and malaria meds in Liberia. HIV meds in Sierra Leone and South Sudan. Because they live in failed states that grew complacent on foreign aid and have no other means to keep their people alive? Sounds like an opportunity for degroth to me!“

Another user, @cremieuxrecueil, dismissed a Lancet study estimating the cuts could cause over 14 million deaths by 2030, stating: “Anyone citing the Lancet study to claim Elon killed 14 million people (or any other ridiculous number) should just be laughed at. The study models a deliberately absurd scenario, and it does so with incorrect inputs to the model. The scenario did not come true. Stop citing it!“

The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which had an annual budget of over $40 billion, was effectively shuttered in early 2025 by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk had called the agency a “criminal organisation” and said it was “time for it to die”.

The cuts have had severe impacts on health programs globally. A study published in The Lancet estimated the cuts could cause more than 4.5 million child deaths by 2030. Kristof has previously reported extensively from West Africa on the consequences of the funding freeze.

The names cited by Kristof represent a direct challenge to claims by Musk and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “no one has died” as a result of the cuts. Former USAID whistleblower Nicolas Enrich has called those claims “flatly untrue,” estimating that almost “750,000 people have already died unnecessarily due to those cuts”