How the US foreign aid freeze is intensifying humanitarian crises across the globe

USAID's assistance programs are facing a complete suspension, leading to disruptions in food distribution, closure of medical services, and failure to deliver life-saving aid. One USAID staff member stated that this is heartbreaking for the beneficiaries who rely on aid for their livelihoods, as this assistance is crucial to them.

Another USAID employee revealed to CNN that partner organizations are shocked by the two-week-long work stoppage and have begun to question the reliability of U.S. cooperation. The employee stated that USAID has aid programs in complex and dangerous regions such as Ukraine, Myanmar, and Sudan, where there are huge humanitarian needs, and these programs have now been halted.

Nearly all USAID employees and partners interviewed by CNN requested anonymity due to concerns about job losses or future funding cuts to projects. They emphasized that the work they do is crucial to U.S. power and stability abroad, and is not charity, but rather an investment that yields far greater returns than what is spent. They expressed frustration with the current situation, considering it extremely unwise from a global perspective.

Despite the government's claims that it has issued exemptions for all projects involving life-saving humanitarian aid and food assistance, multiple USAID employees and contractors told CNN that related funds remain frozen. One USAID official stated that the exemptions are meaningless to them because much of the field work is funded upfront by partners, who are then reimbursed, and these payments cannot be processed at this time.

Meanwhile, the entire aid industry is being impacted by the inability to pay contract funds, resulting in the loss of jobs for thousands of Americans and people overseas. The aid freeze is severely impacting numerous countries and projects; for example, water security projects, food aid projects in Sudan, and aid projects for vulnerable women in Afghanistan have all been affected.

USAID supports hundreds of water security projects in dozens of countries, including Jordan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and India. Globally, an estimated 4 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Evan Thomas, an environmental engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that without these projects, "animals will die, people will die, and people will be forced to displace." He participated in a project in Kenya, funded by USAID, that installed 200 deep groundwater pumps, helping more than 1 million people gain access to clean water. Now, the project is at risk of collapse because it cannot pay the contractors who maintain and repair the pumps.

Thomas also pointed out that when people do not have water and livestock die, they become very anxious, and some armed groups take advantage of this anxiety to recruit members. He expressed concern about the growing influence of the terrorist group al-Shabaab in Kenya. "Undermining people's access to food, water, and medicine around the world does not make America safer. People will not sit idly by; they will migrate, which will increase immigration pressure around the world." Other USAID-funded projects in Kenya, such as those improving care for people living with HIV/AIDS, have also been disrupted.

Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former USAID official, said that food kitchens in Sudan supported by U.S. aid funds have already closed. At the same time, the United Nations reports that millions of families, many of whom are displaced, are facing crisis levels of hunger due to the country's ongoing conflict. Konyndyk warned that the withdrawal of aid could have widespread and even life-threatening consequences for refugees in Sudan, Syria, and Gaza.

FEWSNET, the U.S. system for monitoring global famine, has also been shut down due to the aid freeze. Jamie Munn, executive director of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, said that USAID has been a cornerstone of life-saving operations in famine-stricken regions such as Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan, but the funding freeze is preventing millions of people from accessing basic services such as healthcare, clean water, and shelter.

USAID leads a project to control and eliminate malaria, covering the 24 African countries most affected by malaria, including Mali, where malaria is a leading cause of death. The aid agency funds and provides antimalarial drugs, test kits, and insecticide-treated mosquito nets, which can save lives and reduce mosquito populations. A former USAID contractor told CNN that the project she oversaw, which delivered these life-saving supplies, has now been halted, and no one knows what will happen to the drugs they have already procured.

She and her colleagues at the contracting company have all been laid off. Malaria still causes approximately 600,000 deaths worldwide each year, most of them children under the age of five. However, in countries where USAID operates the President's Malaria Initiative, mortality rates have been cut in half since George W. Bush launched the program in 2006. The contractor said, "One of the reasons we don't have malaria in the United States is that we fund and track malaria around the world to ensure global health security. If we don't fund the reduction of parasites elsewhere, then the cases we are seeing in Florida this year will become increasingly common."

A source familiar with the aid suspension told CNN that life-saving programs in Afghanistan for 145,000 vulnerable women in need of safe shelter, mental health counseling, healthcare, and vocational training have now been frozen. Meanwhile, the Taliban's rule is becoming increasingly oppressive and brutal toward women. The International Council of Voluntary Agencies said in a statement that Afghanistan faces dire consequences as the funding suspension disrupts education programs, healthcare services, and women's empowerment initiatives, undermining long-term recovery and stability.

Hsiao-Wei Lee, the World Food Programme (WFP) country director in Afghanistan, told Reuters that more than 6 million people in the country are currently surviving on "bread and tea" alone. She expressed concern about the aid freeze, given that the WFP only has half of the funding it needs in Afghanistan. According to the UN, 54% of the WFP's funding last year came from the United States.

USAID funds backup heating systems in schools and hospitals in 14 regions of Ukraine, which are invaluable given Russia's ongoing attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. USAID also assists in transporting equipment to energy workers, such as in the southern city of Odessa, which recently suffered from Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy supply. According to non-profit organizations in the country, funding for these projects, as well as others focused on food security and veteran rehabilitation, has been frozen.

Members of the Ukrainian parliament have called for continued USAID assistance, which also funds projects that enable thousands of children to continue their education and provide support for children psychologically affected by the war. USAID funding also supports Ukrainian media to help them continue operating during difficult economic times and to counter Russian media and propaganda. The Ukrainian Parliament's Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy said last week, "These grants have become a pillar for many domestic media outlets, as the advertising market that helped media survive has not recovered since Russia's full-scale invasion."

In Colombia, USAID funds and operates projects related to drug interdiction, emergency food assistance, and combating deforestation. Donors and organizations working locally have expressed great concern about the sudden reduction in aid, especially as the country faces escalating violence and a humanitarian crisis in the Catatumbo region, a strategic area for drug production. One aid worker said, "We are trying to explain that [the aid freeze] will destabilize both the Venezuelan-Colombian border and the domestic conflict, which is where one of the largest coca cultivation areas in the country is located." He emphasized concerns about increased drug trafficking and the suffering of local people.

In the Latin American region, non-governmental aid workers have compiled a list of current USAID projects that they say are aimed at combating immigration and curbing the influence of cartels, and that these efforts have now been halted in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. A USAID official added, "I think the entire aid system could collapse because we fund about 40% of the aid."

According to UN officials, the United States funds approximately 47% of humanitarian aid worldwide. The United States is the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid, although its spending accounts for less than 1% of the federal budget. Senator Marco Rubio told the media in El Salvador on Monday that "USAID's function" must be in line with U.S. foreign policy, and that it is a "completely unresponsive agency." When asked about the view that USAID's work is crucial to national security and promoting U.S. interests, Rubio said, "There are some things that USAID does that we should continue to do, and we will continue to do."

Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, said in a statement that since Congress established USAID in 1961, "for decades, it has provided life-saving medicines, food, clean water, assistance to farmers, ensured the safety of women and girls, promoted peace, and much more, all for less than 1% of our federal budget." "Ending USAID as we know it would undermine hard-won gains in poverty reduction and humanitarian crises and cause long-term, irreparable damage."