Recently published research in The Lancet medical journal reveals alarming projections regarding the consequences of funding cuts initiated by President Donald Trump’s administration. According to the findings, the drastic reduction of over 80% in programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) could lead to an estimated 14 million additional deaths by 2030, a figure that includes more than 4.5 million children under five years old.
Davide Rasella, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and co-author of the study, highlighted that for many low- and middle-income countries, the impact of these cuts would be akin to experiencing a global pandemic or a major armed conflict. This is a troubling reality given the substantial humanitarian progress made over the last two decades, where USAID funding contributed to preventing approximately 91 million deaths in developing nations between 2001 and 2021.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Trump administration’s measures to halt foreign humanitarian aid threaten to undo years of hard-won advancements in global health. The report emphasizes that these funding cuts not only jeopardize health outcomes but also affect the most vulnerable populations who rely heavily on such assistance for survival.
The crisis is particularly acute in areas like the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, where a recent BBC report documented heartbreaking stories of malnutrition, with hundreds of thousands of individuals facing dire food shortages due to these aid cuts. This year, the remaining aid programs are set to be administered more effectively under the US State Department with Congressional input, but it may be too little, too late for many suffering communities.
Overall, the implications of this report serve as a grave warning about the potential human cost of drastically reducing international aid and highlight the urgent need for policy reconsideration as the world converges in Seville for a significant UN-led aid conference.