USAID cuts 2025
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What USAID did, and the effects of Trump's cuts on lifesaving aid
by By Oxfam America Oxfam 6/11/2025
U.S. foreign aid has long played a critical role in tackling poverty, hunger, and inequality worldwide, which is why the Trump administration’s recent cuts were met with public outrage and pushback from development and humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam.
Despite widespread public support for U.S.-funded foreign aid, the Trump administration has shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) , which funded the majority of U.S. humanitarian and development assistance worldwide to people in some of the worst crises. The effect of these cuts on people is dire: At least 23 million children stand to lose access to education, and as many as 95 million people would lose access to basic healthcare, potentially leading to more than 3 million preventable deaths per year.
Inside the Trump Administration’s Man-Made Hunger Crisis
by Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester 17/2/25 PROPUBLICA
On July 18, a mild, overcast night in Nairobi, Kenya, a team of President Donald Trump’s top foreign aid advisers ducked into a meeting room at the Tribe Hotel, their luxury accommodations in the city’s diplomatic quarter, for a private dinner.
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
by Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy 15/12/25 PROPUBLICA
On the one-month anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year, a group of his appointed aides gathered to celebrate.
Medical experts concerned USAID spending cuts could impact global health programs
by Geoff Bennett 28/1/25 PBS NEWS
The uncertainty around the Trump administration's sweeping funding freeze is also alarming many in the world of global health, since it could affect key programs overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Study: 14 million lives could be lost due to Trump aid cuts
by Jonathan Lambert 1/7/25 npr
That argument clashes with a new study published Monday in the medical journal, the Lancet. The study estimates that USAID programs have saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades. The researchers also estimate that if the current cuts continue through 2030, 14 million people who might have otherwise lived could die.
Aid groups say USAID cuts are already having deadly consequences
by Gabrielle Emanuel, Steve Inskeep 28/5/25 npr
President Trump, with the help of Elon Musk, cut billions of dollars in global health programs earlier this year. The administration has dismissed the idea that that had much effect. Here's an exchange between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Democratic Representative Brad Sherman of California during a hearing last week.
USAID cuts had 'severe impact' on Somalia's economy, says development bank chief
U.S. President Donald Trump has slashed the country's foreign aid budget, and shuttered USAID earlier this year. The agency had supported health, education and development worldwide.
USAID cuts are even being felt at high school science fairs
International humanitarian groups are still reeling from President Trump slashing hundreds of jobs and spending by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. There are consequences large and small reaching all the way down to high school science fairs. Henry Larson has this report from Colorado.
'You can now die': The human cost of America's foreign aid cuts in Africa
Michel Martin is a host of Morning Edition. Previously, she was the weekend host of All Things Considered and host of the Consider This Saturday podcast, where she drew on her deep reporting and interviewing experience to dig in to the week's news. Outside the studio, she has also hosted "Michel Martin: Going There," an ambitious live event series in collaboration with Member stations.
Rubio announces that 83% of USAID contracts will be canceled
by Melody Schreiber 10/3/25 npr
"The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X early Monday morning.
Trump global aid cuts risk 14 million deaths in five years, report says
President Donald Trump's move to cut most of the US funding towards foreign humanitarian aid could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal.
In Mozambique, an ISIS insurgency is newly energized as US cuts impact aid programs
by Nick Paton Walsh 21/11/25 CNN
Mocimboa da Praia, Mozambique
Musty salt air crept at dusk over the nets and moored boats on northern Mozambique’s coast as seven armed and uniformed men marched into the fishing community last month, demanding the keys to the mosque.
Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations
by Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester 28/5/25 ProPublica
American diplomats in at least two countries have recently delivered internal reports to Washington that reflect a grim new reality taking hold abroad: The Trump administration’s sudden withdrawal of foreign aid is bringing about the violence and chaos that many had warned would come.
He led the 2014 US response to Ebola. He says USAID cuts will impact future readiness
That's Elon Musk, speaking Wednesday at President Trump's first cabinet meeting. It's a comment that caught the ear of Jeremy Konyndyk, who led America's response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 as director of USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. Jeremy Konyndyk joins us now. Good morning.
More babies and mothers are dying in Afghanistan after USAID cuts, midwives say
In March, the World Health Organization announced more than 200 health care facilities had shut down, or suspended operationsin Afghanistan as a result of the Trump administration's funding freeze.
The devastating impact of Trump’s slashing foreign aid, in 3 charts
From HIV to malnutrition, here’s what the loss of 83 percent of USAID programs looks like.
USAID budget slashed by 83%, and other top health stories
by Shyam Bishen 12/3/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on 10 March that, following a six-week review by the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, significant changes have been made to US foreign aid.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has its billion-dollar grant cut by Trump administration
Since its founding in 2000 the organization says it has played a role in vaccinating 1.1 billion children against a raft of potentially devastating diseases from polio to malaria to m pox.
The Trump administration kills nearly all USAID programs
by Fatma Tanis, Frank Langfitt 26/2/25 npr
The Trump administration is terminating thousands of USAID foreign assistance grants and awards, according to the State Department. The move effectively guts the six-decade-old agency.
What USAID cuts mean for youth development — and what the world must do next
by Michael Boampong 16/4/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
A 2023 Social Return on Investment study found that investments in youth programming yield long-term dividends across peacebuilding, civic participation and economic resilience, demonstrating that cuts not only undermine individual opportunity but jeopardize collective progress.
Exclusive: US aid cuts leave food for millions mouldering in storage
by Jessica Donati, Emma Farge, Ammu Kannampilly and Jonathan Landay 16/5/25 Reuters
The food stocks have been stuck inside four U.S. government warehouses since the Trump administration's decision in January to cut global aid programmes, according to three people who previously worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development and two sources from other aid organisations.
State Department Cables Reveal the Harrowing Consequences of Elon Musk’s USAID Demolition
by Tim Murphy 4/6/25 MOTHER JONES
Elon Musk is trying to rewrite the history of his four-month tenure in Washington. As the billionaire founder of Tesla and Space X returns to the private sector after four months as a “special government employee,” he has put aside the celebratory chainsaw and cast himself as a misunderstood outsider whose dreams of efficiency were stymied by a terminally broken bureaucracy.
A midwife says of the aid cuts in Afghanistan: 'No one prioritizes women's lives'
An Afghan midwife describes how a woman died in childbirth, along with her baby. She was snowed in at her village and couldn't reach a hospital. Just weeks before, the health clinic in her village had closed. If it was open, a midwife could have helped her.
Cuts to USAID could impact Trump administration efforts to curb migration
Stopping illegal immigration is one of President Trump's top priorities. That's why one of his administration's first big attention-getting moves in the name of cutting government - dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID - could actually work against that goal. That's because some of the agency's programs discourage migrants from heading to the U.S. Reporter John Otis has more.
U.S. aid cuts hit Ethiopia’s fragile Tigray region
by Samuel Getachew 13/3/25 PBS NEWS
During its war with Tigray fighters that devastated the region in 2020-2022, Ethiopian government restrictions on the rebellious region reduced aid flows to a trickle. Then in 2023, U.S. and U.N. aid distributions of grain were halted for months over a corruption scandal.
Trump’s foreign aid cuts could be ‘big strategic mistake’, says Lammy
by Pippa Crerar 7/2/25 The Guardian
Donald Trump’s plans to make dramatic cuts to the United States’ international aid budget could be a “big strategic mistake” that allows China to step in and further its global influence, the UK foreign secretary has said.
Trump administration to cut all USAID overseas roles in dramatic restructuring
by Joseph Gedeon and Robert Tait 11/6/25 The Guardian
In a Tuesday state department cable obtained by the Guardian, secretary of state Marco Rubio ordered the abolishment of the agency’s entire international workforce, transferring control of foreign assistance programs directly to the state department.
Catholic Relief Services faces uncertain future after Trump cuts aid funding
by Deema Zein 26/5/25 PBS NEWS
One of the first major policy decisions of the second Trump administration was a significant change in spending on foreign aid. That eventually included effectively dissolving the U.S. Agency for International Development, the primary organization that distributed those funds. Deema Zein reports on how one major recipient of USAID funding is grappling with the impact.
Exclusive: HIV patient testing falls in South Africa after US aid cuts, data shows
by Nellie Peyton 14/5/25 Reuters
JOHANNESBURG, May 14 (Reuters) - Testing and monitoring of HIV patients across South Africa have fallen since the United States cut aid that funded health workers and clinics, with pregnant women, infants and youth the most affected, previously unpublished government data shows.
From fighting HIV to interpreters, USAID cuts wide swath of programs
by Patricia Zengerle 6/3/25 Reuters
Reuters reviewed a copy of a 368-page document that showed the most extensive list to date of the thousands of USAID programs and contracts that have been canceled as President Donald Trump on January 20 announced a sweeping freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid to ensure the funding was in line with his "America First" policy.
How the loss of USAID funding affects Indonesia’s ability to fight climate change
by Angeles Ponpa 9/11/25 PBS NEWS
The ripple effects of the Trump administration's elimination of USAID are being felt in dozens of countries around the world where the agency supported initiatives ranging from public health programs to infrastructure and climate resilience projects.
'Neglected tropical diseases' now face even more neglect
For close to two decades, the U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with countries around the world to combat neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs. The term refers to a group of diseases that affect more than a billion people, causing severe pain, disfigurement, disability and in some cases death.
Yemen: US abrupt and irresponsible aid cuts compound humanitarian crisis and put millions at risk
by ANMESTY INTERNATIONAL 10/4/25
Aid workers described to Amnesty International how President Donald Trump’s decision to cut US aid funding has led to the shut-down of lifesaving assistance and protection services, including malnutrition treatment to children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters to survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare to children suffering from cholera and other illnesses.
Bangladesh: International community must act to avoid devastating aid cuts for Rohingya refugees
by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 13/3/25
The international community must urgently step up and deliver the necessary support to avoid the devastating impact on the lives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh following the announcement of severe aid cuts by the World Food Programme (WFP), Amnesty International said today ahead of the visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
How USAID cuts are impacting the fight against HIV in Kenya
by William Brangham 12/6/25 PBS NEWS
The Trump administration's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development have had reverberations around the world. The agency, which operated in over 100 nations and employed thousands of people, has been virtually eliminated. In partnership with the Pulitzer Center, William Brangham reports on the impact USAID cuts are having on HIV testing and treatment in Kenya.
Amnesty International warns of devastating consequences as abrupt U.S. Foreign Aid cuts threaten human rights globally
by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 29/5/25
The Trump administration’s abrupt, chaotic and sweeping suspension of U.S. foreign aid is placing millions of lives and human rights at risk across the globe. In its research briefing Lives at Risk, released today, Amnesty International examines how the cuts have halted critical programs across the globe, many of which provided essential health care, food security, shelter, medical services, and humanitarian support for people in extremely vulnerable situations, including women, girls, survivors of sexual violence, and other marginalized groups, as well as refugees and those seeking safety.
Trump signs bill canceling $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding
by Associated Press 24/7/25 PBS NEWS
President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday canceling about $9 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting and foreign aid as Republicans look to lock in cuts to programs targeted by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Private donors raise more than $125M to fund aid programs after U.S. cuts
by Thalia Beaty 27/10/25 PBS NEWS
Multiple groups launched fundraisers in February and eventually, these emergency funds mobilized more than $125 million within eight months, a sum that while not nearly enough, was more than the organizers had ever imagined possible.
Ghana struggles to fight disease and poverty without vital U.S. aid
by William Brangham 2/7/25 PBS NEWS
A study in The Lancet suggests that cuts to USAID could result in the death of 14 million people over the next five years. Ghana has long been seen as a beacon of democracy in West Africa, but it still struggles with poverty and serious health problems, especially in rural areas. With the support of The Pulitzer Center, William Brangham reports on what ending aid will mean for people there.
Children die after USAID funding cuts end lifeline for displaced communities fleeing violence
by Taiwo Adebayo 16/5/25 PBS NEWS
DIKWA, Nigeria (AP) — Under the dappled light of a thatched shelter, Yagana Bulama cradles her surviving infant. The other twin is gone, a casualty of malnutrition and the international funding cuts that are snapping the lifeline for displaced communities in Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged Borno state.
How USAID cuts impact preparations for climate change
The ripple effects of the Trump administration’s elimination of USAID are being felt in dozens of countries where the agency supported initiatives ranging from public health programs to infrastructure and climate resilience projects. Angeles Ponpa from Northwestern University’s school of journalism traveled to Indonesia to see the effect on one of the world’s fastest-sinking cities.
Bill Gates on why he’s donating his remaining wealth and his concerns about U.S. aid cuts
Billionaire Bill Gates announced a major change to his philanthropic Gates Foundation. There will be a doubling of its giving, to more than $200 billion over the next 20 years, when the foundation will close permanently. The move comes at a moment of significant cuts to foreign aid from the U.S. and other nations. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Gates and foundation CEO Mark Suzman.
Projects bringing water to drought-ridden land could end with USAID’s dismantling
by William Brangham 15/7/25 PBS NEWS
In previous reports, we looked at how these cuts are impacting the fight against HIV, malaria and maternal health. As America's work abroad contracts, which of USAID's investments and projects can live on without American support?
Under pressure, undeterred
After the Trump administration closed the organisation down, a group of former staff secured new funding for almost 80 programmes, benefiting an estimated 40 million people
Thailand: Aid Cuts Put Myanmar Refugees at Grave Risk
The Trump administration’s dismantling of foreign assistance, along with other donor shortfalls, led to the termination of most food assistance provided by The Border Consortium (TBC) and primary healthcare services from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border on July 31, 2025. Cuts since January have already led to the deaths of refugees, who are barred from working legally, moving freely, or accessing services in Thailand, leaving them largely dependent on foreign assistance.
Dr. Atul Gawande: Hundreds of Thousands Have Already Died Since Trump Closed USAID
“We had the cure for death from malnutrition, and we took it away.” We speak to surgeon and health policy expert Atul Gawande about the Trump administration’s near-total dismantling of USAID. Gawande, the head of global health at USAID during the Biden administration, is featured in the short film Rovina’s Choice, filmed at a refugee camp at the border between Kenya and South Sudan earlier this year.
Man-Made Famine & Malnutrition in Sudan, Exacerbated by U.S. Aid Cuts
Starvation is now being used as a weapon of war in numerous conflicts across the globe — including Sudan, which continues to endure a yearslong famine. Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric doctor who just returned from Sudan, says that the famine is man-made.
Fight against tuberculosis stalls in Bangladesh as U.S. cuts aid
by Fred de Sam Lazaro 14/8/25 PBS NEWS
Earlier this year, the Trump administration’s defunding of USAID brought an abrupt halt to hundreds of global health programs, including those targeting tuberculosis. The disease kills more people than any other infectious agent worldwide, about 1.25 million in 2023. In partnership with the Pulitzer Center, Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Bangladesh on efforts to contain the fallout.
“Millions of Lives at Risk”: USAID Cuts Lead to Global Rise in Death, Hunger, Poverty and Disease
NERMEEN SHAIKH: For more on the dismantling of USAID and what it means for people around the world, we’re joined now by two guests. In Oslo, Jan Egeland is with us, with the Norwegian Refugee Council. He’s just returned from a trip to Mozambique. And here in New York, we’re joined by Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy with Amnesty International USA, which has just released a report titled “Lives at Risk: Chaotic and Abrupt Cuts to Foreign Aid Put Millions of Lives at Risk.”
U.S. Cuts Aid to Somalia But Continues to Bomb It
Moazzam Malik: “Many communities, many children, many families are very vulnerable following drought years over the last few years, the loss of livelihoods, the loss of livestock, and they’re in desperate need. And at the same time that they face desperate needs with drought, with climate change impacts, they’re of course suffering now the impact of aid cuts.”
Trafficked, exploited, married off: Rohingya children’s lives crushed by foreign aid cuts
by KRISTEN GELINEAU 16/12/25 AP
Ever since the military in her homeland of Myanmar killed her father in 2017, forcing her to flee to neighboring Bangladesh with her mother and little sisters, the school had protected Hasina from the predators who prowl her refugee camp, home to 1.2 million members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority.
The Impact of Foreign Aid Cuts
2025 has brought the largest restructuring of U.S. foreign assistance in history, with thousands of UN programs losing funds and others facing drastic reforms. Like most Americans, we know that aid isn’t charity. It saves lives, strengthens democracies and advances America’s security. We hope policymakers will rethink these cuts and recognize foreign assistance for what it is — a smart investment in our future.
USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths
by Karen Feldscher 20/11/25 HARVARD T.H CHAN
The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Atul Gawande.
‘Trojan horse moment’: anti-rights groups seize chance to fill void left by US aid cuts
by Isabel Choat 17/12/25 The Guardian
A new study projects that U.S. funding cuts to global health aid will have a catastrophic effect on pediatric TB, with children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia likely to experience a significant spike in preventable cases and deaths over the next decade—even by the most conservative estimates—unless funding is restored.
U.S. aid cuts put millions in peril
by INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITEE 28/2/25
The Department of State has terminated over 10,000 foreign aid grants and contracts in a devastating blow to global humanitarian efforts. This decision has severely impacted communities worldwide.
US Government fuelling global humanitarian catastrophe: UN experts
GENEVA – The abrupt suspension of United States of America’s foreign aid has fuelled a global humanitarian catastrophe – made worse by the administration’s failure to publish a review it committed to undertake of USAID contracts and disbursements, UN human rights experts* said today.
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong 5/11/25 THE NEW YORKER
t was January, my final week in the outgoing Administration. In a few days, Donald Trump would be inaugurated as President. I had come to the United States Agency for International Development in early 2022, leaving my surgery practice and public-health research in Boston to lead the agency’s global-health efforts. Now I’d be returning to my previous life.
Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts
by Jillian McKoy 21/3/25 School of Public Health
Over the last two months, the Trump administration’s slashing of US foreign aid and systematic dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have severely disrupted the lives of populations abroad who rely on this funding for disease detection and treatment, nutrition assistance, and other vital public health services.
U.S. Aid Cuts Are Hitting Global Conservation Projects Hard
by Adam Welz 23/4/25 YaleEnvironment360 On February 3, Elon Musk typed a now-notorious post to his social media platform X: “Spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone [sic] to some great parties. Did that instead.”
USAID Cuts Weaken U.S. Influence at the United Nations
by Allison Lombardo 19/5/25 CSIS
As part of its stated intention to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and circumscribe U.S. foreign assistance, the Trump administration announced recently that it had terminated at least 5,341 foreign aid projects, including an estimated 211 awards to various UN agencies for implementing development and humanitarian programs around the world. Some U.S. leverage may go with them.
US aid cuts are a soft power surrender to China
China is widely assumed to be the biggest beneficiary, although the full extent of the impact remains unquantified. A back-of-the-envelope calculation, however, offers some insight into the upheaval underway. It shows that the aid cuts will restore China as the world’s largest bilateral development partner, with the United States ceding larger partner status to China in more than 40 countries.
Foreign aid from the United States saved millions of lives each year
by Simon van Teutem and Hannah Ritchie 28/9/25 Our World in Data
In total dollars spent, the United States was the world’s largest foreign aid donor in 2023. It gave $62 billion, about the same as the next three largest donors combined: Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The chart below shows the ten largest givers.
