The Consequences of the U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze
Documenting the impacts of the Trump administration’s freeze and termination of foreign assistance programs and the ongoing dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development
Latest Developments
June 17, 2025
Stand Up for Aid - Situation Report #13 (06/06/25) (See more Stand Up for Aid reports)
“A State Department official said Pepfar continued to support ‘lifesaving HIV testing, care and treatment’ including for orphans and vulnerable children, but that all other services are currently being reviewed. But that’s not how people working on the ground see things playing out.” “The US has withheld money previously promised to IDF Kenya for services including medication counselling and psychological support since Trump took office, and the facility has already recorded deaths of children who were no longer able to access medication.” (The Independent, 6/17/25)
“Project Hope in Namibia, which linked children in rural communities with HIV treatment and prevention, is another programme to have its [orphans and vulnerable children] funding under Pepfar withheld since January.” “Project Hope in Namibia says its plan to make sure its services could be maintained by the local government by 2028 had been scuppered by the programmes abrupt ending, however. The process of transferring responsibility over including training up local staff will now be a lot harder, achieving exactly the opposite of this goal.” (The Independent, 6/17/25)
As jihadist seek to expand from West Africa’s Sahel region toward Atlantic coastal nations such as Ivory Coast, but “as the Trump administration dismantles decades of foreign policy, including eliminating tens of millions of dollars in U.S. security assistance, African allies are growing wary of Washington’s counterterrorism efforts on the continent.” (NYT, 06/16/25)
International Impacts
Global Health
“Contraceptives that could help prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies in some of the world’s poorest countries are stuck in warehouses because of U.S. aid cuts and could be destroyed, two aid industry sources and one former government official said.” (Reuters, 06/05/25)
“President Donald Trump's gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development has put TB testing and tracing on hold in Pakistan and Nigeria, stalled vital research in South Africa and left TB survivors lacking support in India.” Funding cuts have put 39 clinical research sites and at least 20 TB trials and 24 HIV trials are at risk. (Context, 6/3/25)
Nicholas Kristof: “Really, Secretary Rubio? I’m Lying About the Kids Dying Under Trump?” (NYT, 05/31/25)
A Washington Post analysis found that “there is no dispute that people have died because the Trump administration abruptly suspended foreign aid. One might quibble over whether tens of thousands — or hundreds of thousands — have died. But you can’t call it a lie.” (Washington Post, 05/28/25)
In Nigeria, over 13,200 children who were receiving support to return to school are now left without help, making their future uncertain. In Kenya, the U.S. previously funded over a quarter of the country's development aid. Withdrawal of this funding threatens critical sectors like education and health care, especially HIV treatment for 1.4 million people. Experts suggest that these essential medication supplies may only last another three to six months. (DW, 05/28/2025)
In northeast Nigeria, a young boy with sickle cell disease died when his local health clinic—funded by USAID—was closed due to the stop-work order and he was unable to receive medical treatment. (NPR, 05/28/2025)
In Malawi, cases of mpox are rising as U.S. aid cuts have exacerbated vaccine shortages and severely depleted access to HIV medication. “Health officials had reported that patients who had been on ART (antiretroviral therapy) had been forced to stop taking their medication because of the drug shortages. HIV can worsen the risk and severity of mpox, while effective HIV treatment can help manage the risk.” (The Guardian, 05/26/2025)
In Haiti, a non-profit organization caring for orphans with HIV/AIDS will run out of medical supplies at the end of July. At a nearby hospital, more than 550 patients living with HIV/AIDS will lose access to medication in two months. “Experts say Haiti could see a rise in HIV infections because medications are dwindling at a time that gang violence and poverty are surging.” (Africa News, 05/25/2025)
The foreign aid freeze has disrupted plans to roll out Lenacapivir—a highly anticipated new drug that “protects patients against HIV infection through a single shot given every six months”—to more than 2 million people over the next three years. The program will likely lose significant funding because “the drug would fall under the category of preventative services that the State department’s waiver says should no longer be funded.” (The Guardian, 05/24/2025)
In South Africa, viral load testing for people living with HIV who are on anti-retroviral treatments “fell by up to 21% among key groups in the last two months, which four HIV experts said appeared to be due to the loss of U.S. funding.” “With less testing, fewer people who may transmit the virus will be identified. Missing a test can also indicate that a patient has dropped out of the system and may be missing treatment.” (Reuters, 05/14/2025)
In India, dozens of community-led health organizations have lost funding, critically impacting the efficacy of “TB champions” who work to “raise awareness, reduce stigma and support patients in a country with the highest number of [tuberculosis] infections in the world.” Without these groups, “public health experts in India are warning of a spike in infections and deaths from tuberculosis.” Across the globe, a “Stop TB Partnership study showed that USAID's funding cuts could lead to as much as a 36% rise in cases and a 68% jump in deaths to 2.24 million by 2030 in 26 high burden countries.” (Deccan Herald, 05/13/2025)
DW reports on the impacts of the Trump administration's USAID cuts on healthcare in Africa, where as many as "4 million additional people could now die from treatable diseases in Africa as a result.” (DW, 05/11/2025)
In Liberia, "hospitals and clinics across the country are bracing for potential shortages of essential medications” as a result of USAID funded program known as the Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement. “The cuts present more challenges to security and social cohesion for the government at a time when poverty is rising in rural areas according to Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, a veteran human rights lawyer and rival presidential candidate in the 2023 election.” (FrontPage Africa, 05/08/2025)
The UN Population Fund has had to curtail its support for midwifery, and “will only be able to fund 47 per cent of the 3,521 midwives it had planned to support in 2025.” “In Afghanistan alone, loss of support for 409 midwives will cut access to skilled care for an estimated half a million women.” (UNFPA, 05/05/2025)
U.S. funding cuts have forced the large-scale suspension of outreach and harm reduction programs and clinics that distribute “opioid agonist maintenance therapy (OAMT), also known as medically assisted treatment” meant “to alleviate withdrawal symptoms and reduce injecting drug use, which in turn lowers the risk of acquiring HIV.” Previously, PEPFAR “supported OAMT to 27,000 people in seven countries (India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Uganda). In many cases these were and are the only services available. They also supported harm reduction programmes in Mozambique, Myanmar and Kazakhstan.” (UNAIDS, 05/05/2025)
VIDEO: How USAID cuts are harming maternal health care in Pakistan. (DW, 5/3/25)
In South Sudan, “eight people died of cholera [in April] trying to find medical treatment after U.S.-funded clinics in Jonglei State were shuttered.” (The New Humanitarian, 04/29/2025)
In Mali, “[a]ll 33 rural health centers lost a USAID-funded programme that had been providing free consultations and medications to pregnant mothers and children under-five.” (Context, 04/29/2025)
In Nigeria, a Mercy Corps program to support health facilities that “provide lifesaving nutrition support to over 55,000 children under the age of 5 and 11,500 pregnant women” was terminated without warning. (OPB, 04/25/2025)
According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in Somalia, “the closure of maternal and child health clinics and a therapeutic feeding center in Baidoa, cut off monthly care to hundreds of malnourished children. MSF nutrition programs in Baidoa have reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition admissions since the funding cuts. The MSF-supported Bay Regional Hospital has received patients traveling as far as 120 miles for care due to facility closures elsewhere.” (Medecins Sans Frontieres, 04/24/25)
U.S. aid cuts are “disrupting efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases almost as much as the COVID-19 pandemic did, the United Nations said on Thursday.” Along with outbreaks of infectious diseases like measles and yellow fever, vaccines “were significantly affected in nearly half of countries at the start of April due to the funding cuts.” These cuts also “reduced vaccine supplies and hampered disease surveillance.” (Reuters, 04/24/25)
In Nepal, the most at-risk people for HIV “have been deprived of pre-exposure prophylaxis since the USAID-funded programmes were suspended in the last week of January.” Previously “over 1,500 at-risk people from 26 high-risk districts were receiving medication through the USAID’s programme,” “including pregnant women whose husbands are HIV positive.” (Asian News Network, 04/24/25)
Yale University lost support for a program to train “epidemiologists and laboratory specialists to monitor malaria, dengue, antimicrobial resistance and vaccine efficacy” in Chad, which would have empowered the country to “identify and respond to public health threats without waiting for external help.” Yale also lost a $15 million award for health education initiatives in Liberia where the foreign aid freeze had already “shuttered the country’s only high-fidelity simulation facility used for life-saving clinical education.” (Yale Daily News, 04/21/25)
For CBS News Sunday Morning, Ted Koppel reports on the “dangers posed by cuts to U.S. foreign aid,” including the end of funding for a children's clinic in Nigeria. (CBS News, 4/20/2025)
At one clinic in Zambia, over 6,400 HIV positive patients have lost their access to healthcare services and medications due to canceled contracts and staffing cuts from the review and cancellation of U.S. foreign assistance. (NPR, 04/18/2025)
According to a “What’s In” and “What’s Out” list disseminated by USAID leadership, “awards with a focus on ‘broad and stand-alone behavior change, health systems strengthening, knowledge management, broad research, and technical assistance (not directly tied to lifesaving service delivery activities)’ will be cut from future foreign aid in the health sector. (Devex, 04/17/25)
In Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, the rainy season is rapidly approaching, and with rain comes deadly malaria-carrying mosquitoes. A clinic that “once served 300 people a day in the conflict-hit Borno state have abruptly shut down.” The defunding of USAID is “unravelling health care systems across Africa that were built from a complicated web of national health ministries, the private sector, nonprofits and foreign aid.” This endangers “the poorest of the poor, out in remote areas of Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, they're the ones who will be cut off.” (France24, 04/15/25)
Malaria’s progress is at risk because of the foreign aid cuts. In Africa, “stocks of rapid diagnostic tests and medicines have reached critically low levels.” These cuts also “threaten to undermine critical investments in scientific innovation, including in new and improved preventive, diagnostic and treatment interventions as well as in new tools to address drug and insecticide resistance.” (World Health Organization, 04/11/25)
In South Sudan, eight people, including five children, “died on a three-hour walk to seek medical treatment for cholera,” following the U.S. foreign aid cuts, which caused local health services to close. “Three of the children were under the age of 5.” (Reuters, 04/09/2025)
Counter-Terrorism & Conflict Stabilization
U.S. aid cuts could thwart efforts to contain the threat posed by al-Shabab militants in Somalia and “fuel al-Shabab’s expansion into neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia and allow the Somali fighters to strengthen fledgling relations with Yemen’s Houthi rebels.” “Since February, insurgents have taken back dozens of villages, including the strategic town of Adan Yabaal, and regained the ability to operate in nearly a third of the territory they lost to federal forces in 2022. Al-Shabab’s Ramadan offensive in March coincided with reduced U.S. support for Somali special forces — a 2,500-strong unit known as the Danab brigade — which has traditionally led the fight against al-Shabab.” (WaPo, 5/27/25)
In a new report to Congress, inspectors general from State and Defense say that deep cuts to foreign aid have “created security lapses, slowed repatriation efforts and interrupted the distribution of humanitarian aid at the sprawling al-Hol camp and other outposts where former Islamic State [members] have been held while their home governments try to reintegrate them into society.” “The presence of militants in the camps and the poor living conditions have made them fertile recruiting grounds.” (NYT, 5/1/25)
As much as 50% of humanitarian demining projects have been suspended in Colombia due to the Trump administration's funding freeze. Despite NGO and government efforts, Colombia experienced 262 landmine casualties in 2024. José Antonio Delgado, the ICRC's National Director of Operations says, "The impact of each of these [incidents] is not only reflected in the number of people injured or killed. When you stop having mobility, the communities see an impact in terms of food security - you cannot access your fields, your territories, you cannot grow crops - difficulties in accessing essential services that can range from access to health, but also access to water.” (The Latin Times, 4/15/25)
Sri Lanka's efforts to achieve "mine-free status” by 2027 is at risk due to the foreign aid freeze. The country needs to clear only 23 square kilometers more of the original 254 square kilometers that were mined during the country’s civil war. “There are around 3,000 workers participating in the de-mining operations, most of them recruited from among the civil war-affected communities. With the [funding] uncertainty, some groups have already started terminating their staff.” (AP, 04/04/2025)
As part of the mass foreign aid program cancellations, the Trump Administration “has terminated a U.S.-funded initiative that documents alleged Russian war crimes, including a sensitive database detailing the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.” (Washington Post, 03/18/2025)
Supporting Vulnerable Populations
“Thanks to swingeing cuts to the U.S. aid budget under President Donald Trump, life at Kakuma camp in northern Kenya has got a whole lot harder. Girls opt to stay home on their period, food rations have shrunk, tens of teachers have been fired and the vital cash transfers that once kept families going have almost run dry. ‘The funding cuts affected even the community because they used to receive some food and cash-based transfers but it was also cut off,’ said Elizabeth Mukami, a headteacher at Future Primary and Junior School, one of the schools in the camp.” (Context, 05/30/25)
“Paul Jansen, Executive Director at Fleet Forum, a non-profit organization providing humanitarian transport in developing nations, has witnessed first-hand the effect USAID cuts have had on the humanitarian sector. ‘Normally, humanitarian organizations would replace an older vehicle with a cleaner car, or even an electric vehicle. But they now are continuing to drive their vehicles, which will become more expensive. This leads to a risk of breakdowns and technical issues, increasing safety risks,’ Jansen stated.” (Global Fleet, 05/28/25)
According to the CEO of Catholic Relief Services, one of the largest recipients of USAID funding, “We had over 130,000 metric tons of American food sitting in warehouses overseas, and we couldn't distribute it. Vaccines, polio vaccines for kids, we had them in the clinic. We couldn't give them out. Treatment for HIV and AIDS, at first, some of that was frozen, so we can't give antiviral therapy to a mother or a child.” (PBS, 5/27/25)
The Trump administration is attempting to move overseas disaster response functions from USAID to the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, but is only hiring “20 experts out of the roughly 525 who did the work at” USAID. (Reuters, 5/21/2025)
“The Trump administration has devised plans to spend up to $250 million earmarked for foreign assistance to fund instead the removal and return of people from active conflict zones, including 700,000 Ukrainian and Haitian migrants who fled to the United States amid extreme, ongoing violence back home.” (Washington Post, 5/20/2025)
“In Colombia, Trump’s aid freeze is undermining another of his key objectives: keeping migrants away from the U.S. southern border. Venezuelans have made up one of the largest nationalities crossing the southern border in recent years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Many of them previously lived in South American countries before migrating north and crossing the Darién Gap, a dangerous jungle crossing connecting Colombia and Panama.” (Foreign Policy, 05/14/2025)
“The Danish Refugee Council, a major humanitarian group, said it will end its relief programmes in [Burundi, Central African Republic, Georgia, Kosovo, Mexico, and Tanzania,” following cuts to U.S. aid. (Reuters, 05/14/2025)
A recently issued “survey shows half of women’s organizations aiding women in crises may shut down in six months due to global aid cuts.” “A staggering 51 per cent of organizations have already been forced to suspend programmes, including those for supporting survivors of gender-based violence or those which provide critical access to protection, livelihoods, multi-purpose cash and health care. Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) report having been forced to lay off staff—many at significant levels.” (ReliefWeb, 05/13/25)
“Due in part to the Trump administration’s devastating cuts to foreign aid, only a skeleton staff of international humanitarian workers are on hand to receive” Sudanese refugees fleeing to Tiné, Chad. “There are shortages of food, water, medicine, and shelter in Tiné, and few resources to move people anywhere else.” (The Atlantic, 05/12/25)
“Myanmar residents forced to flee their homes for camps across the border in Thailand are facing growing hardship amid cuts to international aid, with more than 108,000 people now struggling to access stable food supplies, civil society organizations told Radio Free Asia.” (RFA, 05/07/2025)
Hillary Onek, Uganda’s minster for refugees, has warned that following U.S. and European aid cuts, “[i]t’s impossible for us now to shoulder the burden of refugee challenge alone. I see there is going to be impending confusion, increased violence and war.” (The Guardian, 05/08/2025)
In Kenya, hundreds of refugees at the Dadaab refuge complex staged a peaceful demonstration to voice their concerns about the negative impacts from the USAID funding cuts, which have resulted in drastically reduced food rations. “As we speak all the humanitarian services are down, we fear that the quality of education for our children in the refugee camps could be affected and the lack of teachers, these funding cuts have affected every aspect of our lives,” said Mohamed Abdi, a refugee who lives in Hagadera camp. (The Standard, 05/06/2025)
“Several U.N. agencies that provide aid to children, refugees and other vulnerable people around the world are slashing jobs or cutting costs in other ways, with officials pointing to funding reductions mainly from the United States and warning that vital relief programs will be severely affected as a result. The U.N. World Food Program is expected to cut up to 30% of its staff. The head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30% and cut senior-level positions by 50%.” (PBS, 4/29/25)
The U.N. refugee agency in Mexico has closed four offices in the country and laid off 190 people due to the “serious funding crisis” facing the agency, the head of UNHCR in Mexico said on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump slashed overseas aid. (Reuters, 4/29/25)
The progress that has been made to reduce global maternal mortality is being threatened by the foreign aid cuts. “Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births dropped by about 40 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2023” but “cuts have led to facility closures and loss of health workers, while also disrupting supply chains for lifesaving supplies and medicines such as treatments for hemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and malaria – all leading causes of maternal deaths.” (The Hill, 04/13/25)
In Guatemala, a program “to provide legal and psychosocial support to the Mujeres Achí, a group of ethnic-minority women in Guatemala who endured extreme sexual violence during the country’s internal armed conflict in the early 1980s” was forced to end just as the women were about to go to trial. (ABA Journal, 04/09/2025)
In Afghanistan, “a new $24 million grant from the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, to fight gender-based violence, provide psychosocial support, and other health services across the country” was terminated. A similar $17.1 million grant for UNFPA programming in Syria was also terminated. (Devex, 04/08/2025)
Church World Service, a faith-based American organization that focuses on disaster relief and refugee assistance, “had 27 grants with partners across Haiti worth more than $10 million that targeted nearly 82,000 people.” Already, the foundation reports “an estimated 500 to 600 Haitians being denied medical care each month; in some 14,500 Haitians losing access to seed loans, tools and other services; and in 40% fewer loans being available, according to the report.” (AP News, 04/4/25)
Food Security·
“As a result of USAID cuts, “in Somalia, dozens of centers treating the hungry are closing. They have been crucial in a country described as having one of the world’s most fragile health systems as it wrestles with decades of insecurity.” (AP, 05/27/25)
“Save the Children, the largest non-governmental provider of health and nutrition services to children in Somalia, said the lives of 55,000 children will be at risk by June as it closes 121 nutrition centers it can no longer fund. Aid cuts mean that 11% more children are expected to be severely malnourished than in the previous year.” In addition, “CARE has warned that 4.6 million people in Somalia are projected to face severe hunger by June.” “The funding cuts have left UNICEF’s partners unable to provide lifesaving support, including therapeutic supplies and supplemental nutrition at a time when 15% of Somali children are acutely malnourished, said Simon Karanja, a regional UNICEF official.” (Seattle Times/AP, 5/26/25)
The Department of Agriculture has terminated 17 projects under the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which funds school meals for children in low-income countries. “The program uses corn, rice, beans and a fortified soy blend from U.S. farmers for school meals that are prepared by 10,000 volunteers,” according to the Catholic Relief Services, whose cancelled program in Honduras served “97,000 children across more than 1,700 schools in rural areas where malnutrition and stunting” are serious issues. A Catholic Relief Services spokesperson warned that the cuts will lead to “more desperation and more migration.” (Reuters 5/22/25)
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday canceled existing grants under its Food for Progress food aid program.” “The USDA issued more than $218 million in Food for Progress grants in 2024, to send [U.S.] crops like milled rice, soybean meal, wheat, and yellow soybeans to countries, including Tanzania, Tunisia and Sri Lanka.” (Reuters, 05/14/2025)
According to Avril Benoît, the CEO of Doctors Without Borders, their “nutrition programs in Baidoa, Somalia, have reported an increase in malnutrition admissions since the funding cuts. MSF admitted, all of a sudden, 195 children with severe acute malnutrition in March alone. Severe acute malnutrition means that if the children don't receive therapy, they could die within weeks. The MSF-supported Bay Regional Hospital in Baidoa has received patients, especially women, who have come from as far as 120 miles away. When the wider network of health-care services shuts down, it means people have to travel that much further to where our programs are located, and that time, that distance, you can imagine for somebody who's sick or carrying a severely malnourished child, could mean life or death. It's one of the reasons that community health programs are so important.” (Time, 4/30/25)
In Sudan, “twelve acutely malnourished infants living in one corner of Sudan’s war-ravaged capital” died of malnourishment. USAID-funded soup kitchens had been “the only lifelines for tens of thousands of people besieged by fighting.” (New York Times, 04/19/25)
Aid organization “Action Against Hunger” is closing its therapeutic feeding unit in Kabul this week because of the U.S. funding cuts. More than 3.5 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition this year, an increase of 20% from 2024.” (AP, 4/15/2025)
MANA Nutrition, producer of the lifesaving “Plumpy’Nut” nutritional peanut mixture sent to malnourished communities worldwide, is now reliant on British billionaire. Despite the help, however, without U.S. assistance, there is not enough assurance that “they will keep reaching youth in impoverished countries. And they don’t expect philanthropy to replace government funding forever.” (AP, 04/14/25)
The U.S. used to be one of the UN World Food Program’s biggest donors, with their main country of focus being Ethiopia. These “populations continue to suffer from frequent food shortages with a government that’s often unable to fund emergency support for its own citizens.” Many of these communities were heavily reliant on USAID, so the aid cuts “had a devastating impact on millions of Ethiopians.” (PBS, 04/11/25)
Counter-Drug & Human Trafficking
“In the southeastern African country of Malawi, U.S. funding cuts to the United Nations’ World Food Programme have ‘yielded a sharp increase in criminality, sexual violence, and instances of human trafficking’ within a large refugee camp, U.S. embassy officials told the State Department in late April.” (ProPublica, 05/28/2025)
In Peru, USAID had supported the fight against the illegal mining for gold done by drug gangs, but cuts have struck fear in citizens who believe that “the exit of USAID funding is going to set back the initial strides we have made to counter this threat.” At a broader level, these cuts would “mean that less attention to illegal mining is likely to mean smoother sailing for other trafficking operations as well.” (The Christian Science Monitor, 04/23/25)
In Colombia, the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) has been suspended. ICITAP “had recently launched a project to train about 600 Colombian police officials in investigating and tracking money laundering — crucial specialized skills to dismantle powerful criminal organizations.” (The Washington Post, 03/16/2025)
18 Black Hawk helicopters used by Colombian law enforcement to track and combat armed groups and drug traffickers have been grounded after funding for fuel and maintenance was paused. (The Washington Post, 03/16/2025)
“In Ecuador, one of the biggest cocaine-trafficking hubs, the country’s navy planned to begin construction this year on a $7 million dock for anti-narcotics operations along a coastline that has gone largely unprotected in recent years; the project is now on hold.” (The Washington Post, 03/16/2025)
Governance & Rule of Law
Due to the USAID cuts, “Indigenous people in the Amazon worry that without American support there will be a resurgence of the cocaine market, increased threats to their land and potentially violent challenges to their human rights.” “In the three months since thousands of foreign aid workers were fired and aid contracts canceled, the Peruvian government has moved quickly to strip Indigenous people of their land rights and to tighten controls on international organizations that document human rights abuses. It's now a serious offense for a nonprofit to provide assistance to anyone working to bring lawsuits against the government.” (AP, 06/04/2025)
“Central to helping the Colombia cement a lasting peace has been the creation of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a court dedicated to trying crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the internal conflict, which left at least 450,000 people dead. The loss of U.S. help will slow down the court’s work, court officials said, which is worrisome because it has a 15-year deadline to reach verdicts and sentences in cases involving tens of thousands of victims and defendants living in rural and difficult to reach areas, said Judge Alejandro Ramelli, president of the court.” (NYT, 5/5/25)
As a result of the funding cuts, the Center for Victims of Torture, an organization that offers counseling and rehabilitative care to survivors of torture in Ethiopia, Jordan, and elsewhere, has had to pause services, which “meant telling people who survived torture and fled from authoritarian regimes and from active conflict zones that the treatment that we were providing them was finished, without any advance warning.” (Washington Post, 5/1/25)
Halted conservation and biodiversity projects, have stalled “tens of millions of dollars [that] went into combating wildlife crime, tens of millions more into conserving vast natural landscapes in Africa and South America.” “USAID-funded projects identified by conservationists include Khetha, launched in 2018 and implemented by WWF South Africa, which addresses wildlife crime in and around South Africa’s Kruger National Park.” (Yale Environment360, 04/25/25)
Syria’s most skilled first responders, known as the White Helmets, lost U.S. funding during the foreign aid cuts that was meant to help excavate mass graves from the deadly regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Excavating these graves would help with the investigations in Syria’s war crimes, but without U.S. aid, more than 130,000 people will remain missing, and the “fledgling new state needs help clearing mines, unearthing mass graves and collecting evidence for war crimes investigations.” (NPR, 04/15/25)
In Cambodia, “the slashing of American foreign aid and President Trump’s executive order last month to gut American-funded news media like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America are erasing what little space for free speech remains.” (New York Times, 04/07/2025)
Radio Free Asia’s “shortwave radio broadcasts for its Mandarin, Tibetan and Lao language services have stopped entirely. The broadcaster, which is funded by the U.S. Congress, said a heavily reduced schedule remains in place for RFA Burmese, Khmer, Korean and Uyghur language services.” (Radio Free Asia, 04/04/2025)
Economic Development
Fish Right, a “seven-year partnership between USAID, the Philippines government, the University of Rhode Island, and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP)” “to improve marine biodiversity and the fisheries sector” has abruptly shifted objectives due to funding cuts. The program will now focus on “maritime security and increasing the visibility of the U.S.’s presence in the West Philippine Sea, leaving the part of Fish Right’s mission focused on tackling illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, responsible fisheries management, and increasing the availability of sustainable seafood in the Philippines terminated.” (Seafood Source, 06/03/2025)
“A sudden USAID funding cut has stalled conservation efforts in Ethiopia’s Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA), a 197,000-hectare (486,000-acre) corridor home to elephants, giraffes and other threatened species. The project, launched in 2022 with $8.5 million in USAID support, had helped reduce illegal hunting, create local jobs and improve community-led biodiversity management.” (Mongabay, 05/30/2025)
“Over 50,000 Bangladeshi professionals have lost their jobs following the shutdown of USAID-funded projects in the country, an association of the unemployed professionals said on Tuesday. The termination of thousands of USAID foreign assistance grants in January has led to the closure of 55 out of 59 programs in Bangladesh,” “and the country lost development assistance worth $700 million.” (Anadolu Agency, 05/27/2025)
In Mali, “a country ravaged by high poverty and insecurity levels and where 70% of the population of at least 22 million people haven’t had the opportunity to learn to read and write,” “a yearslong program aimed at teaching around 20,000 young Malians to read and write in their local languages” has shut down following the Trump administration’s cuts. “Once literate, program beneficiaries move on to the next stage, which involves the acquisition of vocational skills like hairdressing, carpentry, sewing, welding, and pastry-making.” “These skills enable the economically disadvantaged to create jobs for themselves, earn a living or support their families.” (AP, 5/21/2025)
In Côte d'Ivoire, “construction workers in Abidjan are rushing to complete [an] overpass before the Trump administration turns off the funding” for the project, which is financed by the Millenium Challenge Corporation. (New York Times, 5/20/2025)
The ripple effects from the USAID cuts will have a drastic impact on environmental stability. “USAID is no longer involved in agricultural development and climate resilience programs in Nepal, nor in a partnership supporting Indigenous territorial and environmental management plans in Brazil.” Additionally, USAID has canceled its interagency agreements with NASA, which led programs to help communities make more informed climate decisions. “This affects hubs across the U.S., as well as partner hubs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.” (Think Landscape, 04/23/25)
In Moldova, many projects in road-building, business, agriculture and education have been paused, alongside grants for most independent media organizations, creating an opening for increased Russian influence. (New York Times, 02/21/2025)
USAID-supported job training and skills programs in South and Central America have been shuttered. The programs were designed to expand local economic opportunities and combat one of the root causes of migration. (CNN, 02/13/2025)
Programs to enhance resilience in Latin America, including crop insurance for small farmers, adoption of drought-resistant seeds and agricultural practices, crop diversification initiatives, and the use of early warning systems and satellite data to reduce damage from flash floods and storms, have been suspended. (New York Times, 02/08/2025)
Domestic Impacts
As a result of USAID cuts, the Penn Development Research Initiative is cutting staff and ending several projects that “generate reports for U.S. policymakers to inform foreign policy decisions,” including a study “of the effectiveness of projects the agency had funded, to see how it could be more efficient and how it could improve them.” (WHYY, 05/28/2025)
The total number of foreign aid grant awardees “has fallen from 2,562 to 306” since the cuts have been implemented. The “award cancellations will bankrupt more firms, and considerably reduce capacity to negotiate the complexities of USAID contracting amongst many firms that survive...above ninety percent [of awards have been cut] for education, conflict mitigation, family planning, maternal and child health, governance, political competition, private sector and infrastructure—contractor and grantee capacity to deliver foreign assistance projects in those areas will rapidly collapse. U.S. foreign assistance will be considerably less effective as a result.” (The Center for Global Development, 04/21/25)
As a result of the Trump administration’s termination of the Power Africa program, $26.4 billion in deals with U.S. companies are now “in jeopardy.” “While some of these projects could go ahead without Power Africa, others are likely to hit roadblocks, people involved with the program said.” According to an internal Power Africa document, “Chinese and Middle Eastern companies are likely to fill this void.” (Washington Post, 04/14/25)
Despite a federal court order to pay out USAID contracts and grants for “all foreign assistance work done by mid-February,” the payments still have not been fulfilled, “and as of a March 27 court filing, more than 6,000 payments still needed to be processed.” If the administration does not resume issuing “significant payments,” organizations like Edesia and MANA Nutrition who manage life-saving food programs, will not be able to continue. “[N]early 19,000 American jobs have been lost and more than 166,000 global jobs have been lost” as a result of the funding cuts. (CNN, 04/02/2025)
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) “has had to wind down much of its USAID grant-related activities in Baltimore and internationally. This has resulted in the loss of more than 2,200 jobs—1,975 positions in 44 countries and another 247 positions in the U.S., most of them in Baltimore.” The cuts will impact JHU’s efforts to accelerate research to eliminate tuberculosis, reduce the spread of malaria in Tanzania, provide services and supports for pregnant mothers in Nigeria and Afghanistan, support diarrhea prevention in Bangladesh, provide HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in India and Africa, “and work in partnership with governments and media in multiple countries to reduce vaccine hesitancy.” (Johns Hopkins University, 03/14/2025)
“After more than a decade of innovation labs that have helped feed the world and improve global food systems in partnership with the U.S. federal government, Kansas State University will suspend the operation of its two current Feed the Future Innovation Labs on April 12.” (Kansas State University, 03/14/2025)
“The termination of $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University is spurring the leading university funder of research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects, from breast-feeding support efforts in Baltimore to mosquito-net programs in Mozambique.” (Wall Street Journal, 03/11/2025)
NC State University has halted all work on two USAID-funded programs focused on workforce development in Honduras and agricultural research in Kenya. The University’s College of Agriculture and Life Science has used these programs to “compete internationally and have access to crops not commonly found in the U.S., as well as foster positive international trade relationships.” (Technician, 02/25/2025)
The Soybean Innovation Lab, located on the University of Illinois campus, will close due to the freeze on USAID funding. The lab is part of USAID’s “Feed the Future” initiative and incorporates contributions from other universities, including Iowa State University, Mississippi State University, and the University of Missouri. (AP, 02/19/2025)
Konbit Sante, a nonprofit based in Falmouth, Maine, ended its “long-running prenatal and newborn care program that served thousands in northern Haiti.” The nonprofit funded women’s health services at an emergency health clinic, added a 17-bed maternity ward, and provided training, supplies, and salaries to 8 nurses and 24 community health workers serving a poor neighborhood in Cap-Haitien, the country’s second-largest city. (Portland Press Herald, 02/08/2025)
At least 180,000 metric tons of planned purchases from American farmers have been stopped, including at least 60,000 metric tons of soy products which cannot be delivered. Planned grain sales for Food for Progress alone in January and February totaled about 315,000 metric tons, worth $150 million. (Devex, 02/07/2025; Reuters, 02/05/2025)
Grants to purchase 235,000 tons of wheat have been paused, leaving the wheat stranded in warehouses in Houston, TX. There are no USAID staff to book transportation, coordinate receiving the shipment, or ensure security for the food. (KHOU-11, 02/07/2025; Devex, 02/07/2025).
More than 29,000 metric tons of food commodities, valued at $39 million, are stuck at USAID warehouses in Houston unable to be loaded onto U.S.-flagged ships. The issue is also impacting ports in Boston, Miami, Norfolk, Savannah, New York, Chicago and Lake Charles. (KHOU-11, 02/07/2025).
“MCD Global Health of Hallowell, [Maine,] has had to halt its mission to combat malaria in Mozambique, Uganda and Niger.” The organization also operated a program to support maternal and child mental health in Benin and supported an HIV/AIDS programs for military personnel in Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe. (Portland Press Herald, 02/08/2025; Maine Wire, 02/06/2025)
The purchase of more than 200,000 metric tons of wheat, valued at $65 million and grown by American farmers, has been paused. (Star Tribune, 02/06/2025)
Contracts to produce vital nutrition treatments at U.S. factories in Georgia and Rhode Island have been suspended. Some previously manufactured nutrition treatments are sitting in warehouses ready to be delivered to children in dire need. (Boston Globe, 02/04/2025)