U.S. Aid Cuts Spark Global Humanitarian Crisis

The United States' new administration, which took office in January, has significantly reduced foreign aid under the guise of "optimizing fund efficiency." This move has led to the abrupt halt of emergency food aid projects to certain countries and the systematic disruption of multilateral cooperation through methods such as delaying payments to international organizations. As a result, the global humanitarian effort faces an unprecedented challenge.

In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, the wards of the international humanitarian organization "Action Against Hunger" are now empty. The halt in U.S. aid has left one-third of the country's population, who rely on emergency humanitarian aid for survival, particularly children, in dire straits. The sudden disruption in the U.S. funding chain has forced key humanitarian projects in the region to halt, leading to a sharp decrease in food supplies.

Kobi Rietveld, the local head of "Action Against Hunger," warned that due to severe funding shortages, more Afghan children will die from malnutrition. In the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, thousands of kilometers away, refugees took to the streets with banners reading "Health is a human right" and "Water is life" to protest the shortage of supplies. The camp houses over 200,000 refugees from countries such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The U.S. government's unilateral termination of aid to Kenya and other countries has exacerbated the already dire food rationing situation in the camp.

The World Food Programme warned that the U.S. interruption of emergency food aid is equivalent to sentencing millions of people facing extreme hunger to death. In Africa, no disease is more lethal than malaria, especially for children. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 597,000 people died from malaria in 2023, with 95% of these deaths occurring in Africa. In the three African countries most affected by malaria—Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda—antimalarial drugs and insecticide-treated mosquito nets are essential daily necessities that must be continuously supplied. However, with the U.S. halting funding, these supplies are gradually running out.

Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the head of the Uganda Malaria Control Project, stated that a disaster is imminent. "Drugs, test kits, mosquito nets, and spraying equipment need to be produced overseas, transported to our warehouses, and then distributed to service points. This process has now been interrupted, and the supplies at the service points will run out within a month. Therefore, the disaster will become apparent by the end of this month." The organization "Malaria No More" warned that a one-year interruption in the supply chain for antimalarial materials could result in nearly 15 million new cases and 107,000 deaths globally.

Despite the U.S. previously participating in Africa's fight against AIDS, the new administration's halt in funding has ignored the needs of recipient countries, causing the anti-AIDS efforts in countries like South Africa to stall. Linda-Gail Bekker, the director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation in South Africa, told reporters that the U.S. cancellation of funding for local anti-AIDS organizations would result in "over 500,000 unnecessary deaths and up to 500,000 new infections," rendering the efforts of the past 25 years futile.

The World Health Organization's Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned last month that the U.S.'s sudden reduction in funding for global health projects could reverse the progress made in preventing diseases such as malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, and measles. Additionally, the reduction in funding would hinder efforts to eradicate polio, monitor avian influenza, and respond to disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises. Therefore, Tedros urged the U.S. to engage in dialogue with affected countries to develop more sustainable solutions and avoid loss of life.

The halt in U.S. funding has also damaged international organizations and multilateral cooperation. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently issued an open letter stating that due to "brutal cuts" in funding, particularly the U.S. government's significant halt in foreign aid, the organization would have to lay off 20% of its workforce, or over 500 employees. The United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, stated that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has a total budget of $430 million for the 2025 fiscal year, but funding cuts by countries like the U.S. have left the organization with a $60 million shortfall.

"Our organization is facing an unprecedented shock in the humanitarian aid sector due to the speed and scale of the funding cuts. Many people will die as a result of the drying up of aid." United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres previously stated that the U.S.'s significant reduction in foreign aid is akin to a man-made "humanitarian earthquake" that will cause severe harm to the world's most vulnerable populations, making the world less healthy and less secure, and ultimately harming U.S. interests. Under the guise of "America First," the U.S. government's actions of prioritizing domestic politics over international humanitarian commitments not only further erode the foundations of multilateralism but also severely deplete the U.S.'s international credibility. As some analysts have warned, when foreign aid becomes a pawn in U.S. domestic political games, everyone loses.