The US Halt In Foreign Aid ‘Could Mean Life Or Death For Millions’

The new US administration is only a week old, yet it’s taken a sledgehammer to some cherished institutions. One of the latest targets is lifesaving overseas aid.

As reported by the humanitarian news site Devex on January 24, Peter Marocco, the new head of the Office of Foreign Assistance, sent a memo ordering a pause on all new spending, effective immediately. The memo also demanded that stop-work orders be issued for existing grants, until they were reviewed for adherence to President Trump’s agenda.

This latest document went even further than the executive order for a 90-day pause on aid spending, which Trump signed on his first day back in office. It means that many organizations have started to furlough or lay off employees and stop operations. The order did lay out some exceptions, including emergency food aid (which often benefits American farmers) and military aid to Israel and Egypt. Organizations responsible for other types of aid are scrambling for waivers, or at least answers.

While some have aid fatigue, Americans consistently overestimate how much money the US government spends on aid overseas. This actually amounts to less than 1% of federal spending (extremely paltry compared to U.S. military spending).

And international development support is far from wholly altruistic. As the long history of infectious diseases shows, even the wealthiest and most powerful countries can’t insulate themselves from the effects of poverty and illness elsewhere. And investment in development overseas helps to reduce insecurity and conflict that spill over borders.

Aid organizations are reeling, while seeking further clarity about what the review will involve, and how exactly the stoppages will affect U.S. commitments. There are reports already of programs dealing with water and cholera outbreaks shutting down. (The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment.)

Javier Guzman directs the global health program at the Center for Global Development, an independent research organization whose funders include the U.S. Agency for International Development. Guzman notes, “The US is the largest aid provider in the world, with millions of lives depending on its support, making the potential disruptions hugely consequential.”

He highlights the possible consequences for a bipartisan program like PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has saved the lives of over 25 million people. “PEPFAR’s work, including the distribution of antiretroviral drugs to millions of HIV-positive individuals in low-income countries, represents the kind of cost-effective, life-saving aid that US funding should prioritize,” Guzman says. “Crucially, the memo appears to allow ongoing activities, such as distributing HIV medications, to continue in the short term. However, the way this provision is interpreted will be critical in determining the scope of these programs’ survival amidst the uncertainty.”

Abby Maxman leads Oxfam America, an NGO combatting poverty and inequality. She comments, “By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is putting the lives and futures of those in crisis on the line. It has become clear that much of US humanitarian aid is included in this funding pause. That means people who are experiencing some of the most urgent humanitarian crises, who rely on aid to access food, clean water, health care and more, could feel this cut immediately – and this decision could mean life or death for millions.”

Maxman continues, “The repercussions of this decision will be felt in communities across the word and throughout the entire global aid system. Aid experts are unable to operate or plan if they don’t know when funding will arrive, or how much. We are going to see terrible impacts for people experiencing the most widely reported crises – like Sudan, Yemen, Syria, the Occupied Palestinian Territory – and those living through more forgotten emergencies like in the Sahel, or the Rohingya displaced in Bangladesh.”

“This decision must be reversed, and funding and programming must be allowed to move forward,” Maxman urges.