Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world. Its population is projected to increase by 63 percent by the year 2050. At that point, it will represent 28 percent of the world's population.

These facts alone should alarm the Trump administration and drive it toward policies that will alleviate the variety of transnational ills that dense, poverty-stricken areas produce — infectious disease, food insecurity, poverty-induced conflict and unbridled migration. All of which will impinge on America's national interests.

Instead, the Trump administration is adopting policies that will further exacerbate these challenges and will make Africa poorer and more dangerous. In his first term, Trump was quoted as making very disparaging remarks about African nations. This time around, he is acting on those impulses.

The first step was to dismantle USAID, an agency that was not only saving lives with its humanitarian public health interventions but also helping African nations create the economic........

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