Donald Trump’s move to cut most of U.S. funds for foreign humanitarian aid could kill more than 14 million people by 2030. Research published on the Lancet Medical Journal on Monday.
The study found that one in three people who suffer from premature death are children.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in March that President Trump’s administration has canceled 80% of all plans by the U.S. International Development Agency or the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“For many low-income and middle-income countries, the impact will be comparable to a global pandemic or major armed conflict,” Davide Rasella of the co-tested Lancet Report said in a statement.
Rassera, a researcher at the Global Health Institute in Barcelona, added that the funding cuts “risks suddenly stopped, or even reversed – health progress for vulnerable populations for twenty years.”
The report was at a UN-led aid conference held this week in Seville, Spain, the largest in a decade.
Recalling data from 133 countries, researchers estimate that U.S. Agency for International Development funding prevented 91 million deaths in developing countries between 2001 and 2021.
They also use modeling to predict how 83% of funding cuts (digits announced by the U.S. government this year) could impact mortality rates.
The forecast finds that by 2030, cuts could result in more than 14 million avoidable deaths. This figure includes more than 4.5 million children under the age of five, with approximately 700,000 deaths each year.
The Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting program, aims to narrow down the federal workforce. It also accused U.S.A. of supporting the Freedom Project.
The world’s largest humanitarian aid provider to date operates in more than 60 countries, mainly through contractors.
According to Rubio, there are still about 1,000 plans to be managed “more efficiently” under the U.S. State Department and in consultation with Congress.
Despite this, the situation on the ground has not improved.
Last month, a UN official told the BBC that thousands of people in Kenya’s refugee camps were “slowly starving” as U.S. funding cuts to their lowest levels ever.
A hospital in Kakuma, northwestern Kenya The BBC witnessed it A baby who is almost unable to move and shows malnutrition, including wrinkles and peeling on part of the skin.
