NGOs warn: US freeze on foreign aid is a 'death sentence' for people in need!
From life-saving treatment for HIV, to shelter for refugees, to food for malnourished children, U.S.-funded aid projects around the world are being halted, scaled back or canceled due to the Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on nearly all foreign aid.
US President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order suspending development assistance funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for 90 days, during which time his administration will review which of thousands of humanitarian, development and security projects will continue to receive money.
The US State Department said the move was to ensure that all foreign aid programs “are effective and consistent with US foreign policy under the America First agenda.” Emergency food programs were exempt from the initial order, and amid growing outcry from aid agencies around the world, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday issued additional exemptions for “life-saving humanitarian assistance” including the provision of medicine, medical services, food and shelter on a temporary basis.
While some aid groups expressed hope that Rubio's move would sustain programs that keep tens of millions of people in need alive around the globe, U.S.-funded operations of all kinds increased the pace of layoffs, layoffs, and project pauses or closures.
“The aid community is coming to terms with how existential this aid freeze is,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, one of the few aid officials willing to speak publicly about the impact of the freeze amid warnings from the Trump administration to remain silent. The decision “could have life-or-death consequences” for children and families around the world, Maxman said.
The United States is by far the world's leading source of foreign aid, although other countries contribute a larger share of their budgets. In fiscal year 2023, it spent $68 billion (65.4 billion euros) on foreign aid, most of it through USAID, the latest government data show.
In terms of humanitarian aid specifically, the US provided nearly $14 billion last year (€13.5 billion), accounting for 42% of all such aid registered by the UN for 2024. On Monday, the Trump administration placed more than 50 senior USAID officials on leave over allegations that they had resisted orders and helped aid groups cope with the freeze. Agency staff have been told not to communicate with partners except to let them know that funding has been stopped.
One of the biggest projects affected by the aid freeze is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The groundbreaking HIV program is estimated to have saved 25 million lives, including those of 5.5 million children in more than 50 countries, since it was launched by Republican President George W Bush in 2003.
"This is a matter of life and death," said Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International AIDS Society. If funding is stopped, "people will die and HIV will resurface," she warned.
Gyude Moore, a former cabinet minister in Liberia who is now a fellow at the U.S.-based Center for Global Development, said the aid freeze would affect projects across Africa, from supporting girls' education and helping farmers to strengthening health systems. The move would hurt the U.S. because it "does not distinguish between ally, partner and adversary," according to Moore.
For decades, Washington policy has maintained that foreign aid pays for itself by improving national security, stabilizing regions and economies, and improving relations with partners. However, the Trump administration and many Republican politicians argue that foreign aid is often wasted by partners abroad and that the money should be spent instead.
American rivals like China could take advantage of the aid freeze by moving into areas of Africa and gaining influence and business contracts in resource-rich countries, Moore and other analysts have warned. "Feeding starving children in Liberia or malnourished children in Kenya, providing life-saving anti-retroviral drugs in Uganda, none of these things undermine American interests," Moore added.
While the foreign aid freeze does not affect vital U.S. military aid to Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Saturday, the move risks hampering the country's war effort in other ways, according to analysts and activists. For example, the U.S. is providing wage support to keep Ukraine's government afloat amid the damage done to the economy after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and USAID has funded several wartime civilian programs.
One such program is Veteran Hub, an NGO that runs a crisis hotline that receives up to 1,300 calls a month from Ukrainian veterans in need of social and psychological support. Ivona Kostyna, the NGO’s head, said it could lose half of its 31 staff because of the order.
Globally, major UN aid organizations, including the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP), have also been forced to scale back or review their operations in the wake of Trump's executive order. UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi sent an email to all agency staff on Monday night informing them of a spending pause on international air travel, seminars and events, as well as a 90-day hiring and contract freeze.
The US is UNHCR’s largest donor by a long shot, contributing $2 billion (€1.9 billion) to the agency last year. That represented about 40% of the nearly $4.9 billion UNHCR will receive in 2024, according to the agency’s latest available data. Whether the aid freeze will last beyond 90 days remains to be seen, but pessimism and panic have crept into countless foreign aid organizations around the world in recent days.
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