Report links USAID shutdown to hundreds of thousands of deaths
A new report by Belgian aid group 11.11.11 claims that the dismantling of the United States development agency USAID has already contributed to more than 600,000 deaths worldwide, around two-thirds of them children, and warns that the toll could rise into the millions in the coming years.
The organisation says the impact followed president Donald Trump’s decision, shortly after returning to office, to suspend most foreign aid and rapidly wind down USAID, which had been the world’s largest single donor of development funding. According to the report, health services, food programmes and emergency relief stopped abruptly in many countries.
Citing modelling by Boston University and estimates published in The Lancet, 11.11.11 says deaths linked to treatable disease, malnutrition and lack of vaccines could reach 14 million by 2030. When recent European aid cuts in countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are included, the total could rise to 22.6 million, based on figures from the Institute for Global Health.
The report says that while there had been legitimate criticism of USAID, closing it rather than reforming it has sharply increased humanitarian need and global insecurity.
It highlights impacts in several regions. In eastern Congo, support for women and girls who survived sexual violence was halted when US funding ended. In Ukraine, independent local newspapers have lost large parts of their budgets, making it harder to counter Russian propaganda. In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugee families have lost cash support, forcing some children to leave school and work.
Projects in Peru’s Amazon region and in the Philippines, including those protecting indigenous land and human-rights activists, have also been cut back.
11.11.11 also criticises European governments for cutting development budgets, including sharp reductions in Belgium, and argues that short-term savings will lead to higher human costs later, urging countries to maintain investment in international aid and cooperation.
© PHOTO SAFIN HAMID / AFP
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