Supporting Vulnerable Populations
Scholarships funded by USAID to support Afghan women pursuing higher education have been shut down. “It is unclear if [the American University of Afghanistan] classes will be able to continue this semester.”
NPR, 04/08/2025
In Myanmar, “a 7.7-magnitude earthquake ripped through the country’s heavily populated center on Friday” with more than 1,700 people killed. China, Russia and other countries have sent aid and emergency response teams to the country, but the United States has been slow to respond. “On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar announced on its website that the United States would provide up to $2 million in aid, dispersed through humanitarian groups based in Myanmar. But many of the systems needed to funnel American aid to Myanmar have been shattered.”
New York Times, 03/30/2025
“In the Democratic Republic of Congo, over 21,300 children in war-torn South Kivu have had lost access to learning materials and training for their teachers.”
Save the Children, 3/27/25
“Tens of thousands are people will die as a result of foreign aid cuts to humanitarian programmes in the poorest countries in the world, according to one Canadian charity operating in South Sudan.”
The Irish News, 03/26/2025
“In FY 2024, the U.S. allocated $607.5 million for [global family planning programs], including $32.5 million in appropriated funding for UNFPA. If these critical funds are not renewed and spent as appropriated, over the course of one year, 47.6 million women and couples will be denied modern contraceptives, resulting in 17.1 million unintended pregnancies and 34,000 preventable pregnancy-related deaths. Every day without this aid, 130,390 women lose access to contraceptive services.”
Ms. Magazine, 3/19/25
Arm and Arm, a Minnesota-based organization in Africa, works closely with partners in South Africa to supply “food relief, health care, education and empowerment” and were warned that “without a question people will die without the U.S.A.I.D. funding.”
Kare11, 03/17/2025
“[I]n Thailand, [the International Organization for Migration’s] assistance to detained minorities, including Uyghurs and the Rohingya community, has ceased, depriving them of a vital source of food assistance, health care, hygiene supplies, and mental health services.”
Devex, 03/13/2025
In Zambia, a program to protect women and combat gender-based violence in remote fishing camps has been shut down. These women and girls are now “at risk of being forced into exploitative “sex for fish” practices.”
ReliefWeb, 03/08/2025
A field hospital in Sudan that delivered approximately 50 babies a week to women with complicated pregnancies has been closed. “The hospital served women living more six hours from the next closest health facility.”
Devex, 02/28/2025
Programs to support “[e]ighty-seven shelters that took care of 33,000 women who were victims of rape and domestic violence in South Africa” have been canceled.
The New York Times, 02/27/2025
In Afghanistan, “secret schools” educating hundreds of Afghan girls have been suspended. Classes at the American University of Afghanistan, an online school and one of the last remaining options for higher education for women in the country, have also been suspended.
The New York Times, 02/21/2025; NPR, 02/11/2025
The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines was supposed to start a new project to raise awareness and reduce teen pregnancies, which have been on the rise, particularly among girls under 15 years old. The project is now on hold.
Devex, 02/13/2025
In Burkina Faso, a program tracking violence against Christian communities has been halted, leaving the communities more vulnerable to attacks.
Devex, 02/11/2025
In Peru and Ecuador, nearly 100,000 refugees will lose services that help them stay, rather than migrate to the United States.
Global Health Council, 02/05/2025
PEPFAR will be unable to provide services to 3,618 people experiencing domestic and sexual violence every day. This includes things like rape kits, HIV testing, post-exposure prophylaxis, and other essential services.
amfAR, 01/20/2025
As many as 1,000 migrants are seeking asylum in Mexico every day. Due to the foreign aid freeze, “nonprofit shelters, legal aid providers and other groups that work with migrants in Mexico [have been forced to] lay off staff members or suspend their operations.”
Los Angeles Times, 03/04/2025
In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a program supporting 80 radio stations that provided vital information regarding which areas were safe for displaced persons to flee to, was terminated.
Devex, 02/28/2025
In southwest Uganda, a nonprofit managing the transit centers for thousands of Congolese refugees—particularly children arriving alone and women fleeing sexual violence and rape—has had to cut both its mental health and livelihoods programs.
Devex, 02/17/2025
Programs and resources for Venezuelan migrants to receive Temporary Protection Permits (PPT) and be regularized in Colombia have been suspended, leaving the migrants unable to access health care and work permits, among other challenges.
Voice Of America, 02/12/2025
In Brazil, support for the Partnership for the Conservation of Amazon Biodiversity, which focuses on “conservation and improving livelihoods for Indigenous peoples and other forest communities,” has been frozen.
AP, 02/05/2025
“In Tanzania, more than 50,000 children face having their education disrupted or completely stopped due to aid cuts, with one headteacher in a refugee camp in the country's north-west saying this was having ‘heartbreaking consequences’ for children.”
Save the Children, 3/27/25
In Lebanon, “over 500,000 children and their families risk losing critical subsistence cash support from UN agencies, stripping the most vulnerable of their last lifeline.”
Forbes, 03/27/2025
The UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR), is being forced to contemplate a 5,000–6,000 reduction in its workforce, with the agency’s high commissioner warning, “The consequences for people fleeing danger will be immediate and devastating. Refugee women and girls at extreme risk of rape and other abuses are already losing access to services that keep them safe. Children are being left without teachers or schools, pushing them into child labour, trafficking, or early marriage.”
Devex, 03/20/2025
The United Nationals Population Fund, which receives 70% of its funding for its humanitarian response in eastern Chad from the State Department, says that if the freeze isn’t lifted by the end of March they will have to stop “health care services gap for pregnant women fleeing Sudan in search of a safe place to live and give birth to their unborn children.”
ABC News, 3/19/25
“In Myanmar, [the International Organization for Migration] has shuttered an emergency food program for more than 135,000 conflict- and disaster-affected people. An additional 500,00 others will lose access to clean water, health care, shelter, and sanitation services.”
Devex, 03/13/2025
More than 400 Burmese students lost their scholarships for higher education. Over a quarter of the students had fled Myanmar following the military coup.
Voice of America, 01/31/2025
The USAID workers sent to Myanmar to “assess how the United States could help with earthquake relief efforts” were terminated while in the country. “The three experienced aid workers got termination emails addressed specifically to them just days after arriving in Myanmar.”
New York Times, 04/06/2025
In Sinjar, Iraq—a town where thousands of Yazidis had previously been massacred by the Islamic State—the foreign aid freeze “has halted operations to provide water and electricity, primary healthcare centres, the construction of schools, community centres and other basic infrastructure at a time when thousands of Yazidis are returning home after more than a decade in Syrian refugee camps.”
The Guardian, 02/13/2025
Shelter programs for minors seeking protection from criminal gang recruitment in Central America have been halted.
Devex, 02/11/2025
In the Honduras and Guatemala, more than 22,000 women and girls will lose access to services that protect them from domestic violence.
Global Health Council, 02/05/2025
In Brazil, two organizations working to assist Venezuelans fleeing Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship shut down their operations.
The Guardian, 01/30/2025
“Funding to the exiled Tibetan government has been cut by a third, freezing projects worth $12 million annually.” “For decades, U.S. funding has helped tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees from China, with their thriving community across the border in India representing a small but symbolic counterweight to Beijing’s rising power.”
Washington Post, 3/28/25
“In Syria's Al Hol Camp, the closure of Save the Children's two temporary learning spaces has taken away safe spaces for education and mental health services for 640 children who face high levels of child labour and violence.”
Save the Children, 3/27/25
In Bangladesh, the Refugee Agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration warned that the “funding shortfalls in critical areas, including reductions to food assistance, cooking fuel or basic shelter, will have dire consequences for this highly vulnerable population and may force many to resort to desperate measures, such as embarking on dangerous boat journeys to seek safety.”
U.S. News, 03/24/2025
In Bangladesh, the Refugee Agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration warned that the “funding shortfalls in critical areas, including reductions to food assistance, cooking fuel or basic shelter, will have dire consequences for this highly vulnerable population and may force many to resort to desperate measures, such as embarking on dangerous boat journeys to seek safety.”
U.S. News, 03/24/2025
A program to assist and ensure the unaccompanied children fleeing the civil war and famine in Sudan are not trafficked, has been canceled. A program to provide free medical care to refugees and sexual assault survivors in South Sudan has also been terminated.
The New York Times, 03/15/2025
“More than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban to pursue higher education in Oman now face imminent return back to Afghanistan” because their scholarships, funded by USAID, have been terminated.”
BBC, 03/06/2025
In Sudan, a program led by Search for Common Ground, which had “brought the only delegation of women to U.S.-led peace talks — ultimately leading to the opening of a humanitarian corridor in Darfur” was terminated.
Devex, 02/28/2025
130,390 women will be denied contraceptive care every day. Over the course of the full 90-day review period, 11.7 million women and girls will be denied essential contraceptive care. Of those 11.7 million, 4.2 million will experience unintended pregnancies, and 8,340 will die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Guttmacher Institute, 01/2025