USA US cuts threaten over 14 million lives according to study

SDA

1.7.2025 - 01:11

US President Donald Trump froze US foreign aid by decree and subsequently cut more than 80 percent of the programs of the development aid agency USAID. (archive image)
US President Donald Trump froze US foreign aid by decree and subsequently cut more than 80 percent of the programs of the development aid agency USAID. (archive image)
Keystone

According to a study, more than 14 million people could die by 2030 as a result of the cuts to US aid under President Donald Trump's administration. According to the analysis, this would also affect more than 4.5 million children under the age of five.

Keystone-SDA

The study was published on Tuesday in the scientific journal "Lancet", while dozens of top politicians are meeting in Seville, Spain, this week for the UN Conference on Financing for Development in the hope of strengthening the ailing aid sector.

Immediately after his return to the White House in January, Trump issued a decree freezing US foreign aid and subsequently cut more than 80 percent of the programs of the development aid agency USAID. The massive cuts caused horror among aid organizations worldwide. Millions of people lost vital aid as a result. The US cuts are particularly drastic because the USA was previously one of the largest international donors.

The cuts "risk halting or even reversing two decades of progress in the health of vulnerable populations", warned one of the study's co-authors, Davide Rasella, a researcher at the ISGlobal Institute in Barcelona. "For many low- and middle-income countries, the scale of the resulting shock would be comparable to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict," explained Rasella.

Help prevented deaths

The team of international researchers analyzed data from 133 countries and estimated that USAID aid funding prevented a total of 91 million deaths in developing countries between 2001 and 2021. They also used models to examine the impact of the 83 percent cuts announced by the US government. They could lead to more than 14 million avoidable deaths by 2030. By comparison, it is estimated that ten million soldiers died during the First World War.

The study shows that USAID-supported programs have led to a 15 percent reduction in deaths from various causes. For children under the age of five, the reduction was twice as large, at 32 percent. US aid proved particularly effective in preventing preventable deaths from disease. For example, the risk of dying from the immunodeficiency disease AIDS was 65 percent lower in countries that receive a lot of aid than in countries with little or no aid.

Other countries cut funding

After the USA drastically reduced its funding, other rich countries such as Great Britain, France and Germany also cut development funds. These cuts could lead to "even more deaths in the coming years", said co-author Caterina Monti. Now is the time to increase aid, not reduce it, emphasized co-author Rasella.

Top politicians and more than 4,000 representatives from business, civil society and financial institutions have come to Spain to find new impetus in the area of development financing by Thursday. The USA has not sent a delegation to Seville.