World reels from USAID cuts: 20 projects that have closed

Agence France-Presse file photo

WASHINGTON, DC — Countries around the world already are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90 percent of foreign aid contracts and cut some $60 billion in funding. Hours after the announcement, programs were shuttered, leaving millions of people without access to lifesaving care.

Some 10,000 contracts with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were terminated in letters sent to nongovernmental organizations across the globe.

The letters said that the programs were being defunded “for convenience and the interests of the US government,” according to a person with knowledge of the content who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

READ: Vatican’s Caritas outraged at ‘reckless’ USAID cuts, says millions will die

Many of the programs are in fragile countries that are highly reliant on US aid to support health systems, nutrition programs, and stave off starvation.

‘Mortal danger’

In Congo, aid group Action Against Hunger will stop treating tens of thousands of malnourished children from May, which the charity said will put the children in “mortal danger.”

In Ethiopia, food assistance stopped for more than 1 million people, according to the Tigray Disaster Risk Management Commission. The Ministry of Health was also forced to terminate the contract of 5,000 workers across the country focused on HIV and malaria prevention, vaccinations, and helping vulnerable women deal with the trauma of war.

In Senegal, the biggest malaria project closed. It distributed bed nets and medication to tens of thousands of people, according to a USAID worker who was not authorized to speak to the media. Maternal and child health and nutrition services also closed. They provided lifesaving care to tens of thousands of pregnant women and treatment that would have prevented and treated acute malnutrition.

In South Sudan, the International Rescue Committee closed a project providing access to quality health care and nutrition services to more than 115,000 people.

A program shuttered by the Norwegian Refugee Council in Colombia left 50,000 people without lifesaving support including in the northeast, where growing violence has precipitated a once-in-a-generation humanitarian crisis. It included food, shelter, clean water, and other basic items for people displaced in the region.

In war-torn Sudan, 90 communal kitchens closed in the capital, Khartoum, leaving more than half a million people without consistent access to food, according to the International Rescue Committee.

In Bangladesh, 600,000 women and children will lose access to critical maternal health care, protection from violence, reproductive health services, and other lifesaving care, according the United Nations Population Fund.

In Mali, critical aid, such as access to water, food, and health services was cut for more than 270,000 people, according to an aid group that did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

More than 400,000 people in northern Burkina Faso lost access to services such as water. Services for gender-based violence and child protection for thousands are also no longer available, according to an aid group that did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

In Somalia, 50 health centers servicing more than 19,000 people a month closed because health workers are not being paid, according to Alright, a US aid group.

In Ukraine, cash-based humanitarian programs that reached 1 million people last year were suspended, according to the spokesperson for the UN secretary general.

Health services

In Afghanistan, hundreds of mobile health teams and other services were suspended, affecting 9 million people, according to the UN spokesperson.

In Syria, aid programs for some 2.5 million people in the country’s northeast stopped providing services, according to the UN secretary general. Also in the north, a dozen health clinics, including the main referral hospital for the area, have shut down, said Doctors Without Borders.

In Kenya, more than 600,000 people living in areas plagued by drought and persistent acute malnutrition will lose access to lifesaving food and nutrition support, according to Mercy Corps.

In Haiti, 13,000 people have lost access to nutritional support, according to Action Against Hunger.

In Thailand, hospitals helping some 100,000 refugees from Myanmar have shuttered, according to aid group Border Consortium.

In Nigeria, 25,000 extremely malnourished children will stop receiving food assistance by April, according to the International Rescue Committee.

In the Philippines, a program to improve access to disaster warning systems for disabled people was stopped, according to Humanity & Inclusion.

In Vietnam, a program assisting disabled people through training caregivers and providing at home medical care stopped, according to Humanity & Inclusion.

In Yemen, 220,000 displaced people will lose access to critical maternal health care, protection from violence, rape treatment, and other lifesaving care, according the United Nations Population Fund.