US Aid funding pause leaves millions in jeopardy by UN News, Interaction, agencies   4 Feb. 2025   Critical supplies of life-saving medicines have been blocked and children left without food and battling malnutrition as multiple effects were reported across the globe after billionaire Elon Musk resolved to shut down the US government’s pre-eminent international aid agency USAid.   Chaotic scenes were seen in scores of countries as aid organisations warned of the risk of escalating disease and famine along with disastrous repercussions in areas such as family planning and girls’ education, after President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze funding to USAid. In 2023, the agency managed more than $40bn.   Countless aid organisations have already been forced to close down or lay off staff. Trump has tasked the billionaire Musk – who has falsely accused USAid of being a “criminal” organisation – with scaling down the US government’s lead agency for humanitarian assistance.   The impact on the global aid sector has been profound and immediate. US foreign aid accounts for four out of every $10 spent globally on humanitarian aid.   The initial repercussions include the abandonment in warehouses of supplies of crucial drugs in Sudan, the site of what is currently the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where recent fighting in the east has further destabilised the fragile region.   Across Africa, hundreds of thousands of children who rely on school meals have been left without sustenance after food was left to rot in the wake of Musk’s declaration that he wanted the US aid agency to “die”.   “Partners on the ground are saying that in DRC and Sudan, medical supplies are stuck in warehouses,” said a spokesperson for a leading international aid organisation.   Like many aid workers the Guardian interviewed, the spokesperson requested anonymity, amid claims that officials from the Trump administration have put pressure on those in the humanitarian sector not to speak out. Many were also reluctant to talk on the record over fears of future funding,   Among the projects already forced to close is a girls’ education project in Nepal, raising the risk of a rise in child marriage and trafficking.   “All payments are frozen for these projects. There’s a lot of misinformation. Organisations are having to make decisions in a vacuum,” said one humanitarian official.   In Bangladesh, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, which coordinates pioneering research into one of the most prolific killers of children, has laid off some of the world’s most respected scientists working on malaria programmes.   In Africa, malaria-control programmes in Uganda have been forced to adopt equally draconian measures with reports that dozens of vital projects for frontline care have been closed.   Farther south in Malawi, where many rely on donor-funded programmes for survival, fears are mounting that the aid freeze could redraw the country’s entire economy.   Within farming communities – the backbone of Malawi’s economy – Mike Dansa, chair of the Nsanje Civil Society Organisati­on, warned it could upend agricultural aid programmes that support smallholders with improved seeds, irrigation and climate-resilience projects, threatening food security in a country reeling from extreme weather events.   In Johannesburg, projects that have relied for more than 20 years on funding from the US HIV/Aids response programme, known as Pepfar, have had to lock their doors.   Dawie Nel, director of a Johannesburg clinic called Out, said his organisation, which looks after 6,000 clients, had suspended its treatment.   Across the Atlantic, similar scenes of chaos were playing out. In Colombia, which has been plagued by six decades of internal conflict and violence, large numbers of organisations rely on USAid funding.   Programmes providing emergency relief to families fleeing violence between armed groups and encouraging farmers to swap coca – the base ingredient of cocaine – for legal alternatives have ceased operating.   Colombia’s former president and Nobel peace prize laureate, Juan Manuel Santos, told the Guardian: “I have seen the massive benefit these programmes funded by USAid have generated for people across the country. To cut it, suddenly, is going to have a terrible humanitarian effect.”   Elsewhere, the director of a major international aid organisation in Colombia – who also requested anonymity – feared the impact on those who most needed help.   “The people who this is going to affect the most are those already without a safety net. Precisely those who are least able to find another source of food, shelter or income,” they said.   “Without naming countries or areas, we have had to close life-saving services, for children with acute malnutrition, and also testing and treatment sites for health facilities, nutrition facilities and wash facilities,” said one aid worker.   Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former official at USAid, described Musk’s wish to close the agency as posing an existential threat to the humanitarian sector.   “If this goes forward, it really is an extinction-level event for the global aid sector in the US and for much of the global relief and development sector around the world.”   Konyndyk added that it would also “destabilise” budgets of many large aid and United Nations organisations around the world. “It threatens really the collapse not just of what USAid does, but of this huge ecosystem of relief and development organisations that are doing good around the world every day,” he said.   Research from the Guttmacher Institute underlined such warnings, revealing that 11.7 million women and girls will be denied access to contraceptive care over the course of the 90-day aid freeze, which they predict means 8,340 women and girls would die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.   Elsewhere, concern over the fate of the humanitarian sector was laid bare in a survey of 342 international development organisations, which concluded that without US funding, more than half were likely to close before May.   Attempts by the US government to soften the impact of its freeze by unveiling a waiver for projects offering “life-saving assistance” appears to have done little except prompt further alarm and confusion.   “Is Plumpy’Nut [a paste used to feed severely malnourished children] life-saving? Is a vaccine life-saving? What is a life-saving part of a project? What qualifies under the waiver?” an aid worker asked.   4 Feb. 2025   US Aid funding pause leaves millions ‘in jeopardy’, insist UN humanitarians. (UN News)   UN agencies offered a dire assessment of the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader.   The development follows the pause announced to billions of dollars of funding on 24 January by the US administration affecting “nearly all US foreign aid programmes, pending a 90-day review”.   In a letter to all UN personnel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he had responded to the executive order from US President Donald Trump with a call to “ensure the delivery of critical development and humanitarian activities”.   Mr. Guterres said the organization will remain actively engaged in assessing and mitigating the impact of the order. “Now, more than ever, the work of the United Nations is crucial… Together, we will ensure that our organization continues to serve people in need around the world with unwavering commitment.”   Deadly consequences   Pio Smith from the UN Population Fund said that in response to the executive order, UNFPA “has suspended services funded by US grants that provide a lifeline for women and girls in crises, including in South Asia”.   The UN aid coordination agency OCHA, spokesperson Jens Laerke said that the agency’s country offices were “in close contact" with local US embassies to better understand how the situation will unfold.   He explained that the US Government funded around 47 per cent of the global humanitarian appeal across the world last year; “that gives you an indication of how much it matters when we are in the situation we are in right now, with the messaging we’re getting from the US Government”.   The move follows the announcement that the new US administration has placed the country’s principal overseas development agency, USAID, under the authority of the Secretary of State.   Staff from the agency have been locked out of their offices, while the head of the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has accused USAID of criminal activity and a lack of accountability.   “Public name-calling won't save any lives,” said OCHA’s Mr. Laerke, while Alessandra Vellucci, head of the UN Information Service at UN Geneva, highlighted the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for a productive relationship with the Trump administration.   “We are looking at continuing this work together and listening… if there are criticisms, constructive criticism and points that we need to review,” she told reporters, underscoring the “decades-long relationship between the UN and the US.   Amid uncertainty about future US funding, UNFPA’s Mr. Smith underscored the immediate impact on at-risk individuals in the world’s poorest settings: “Women give birth alone in unsanitary conditions; the risk of obstetric fistula is heightened, newborns die from preventable causes; survivors of gender-based violence have nowhere to turn for medical support,” he said.   “We hope that the US Government will retain its position as a global leader in development and continue to work with UNFPA to alleviate the suffering of women and their families as a result of catastrophes they did not cause.”   UNFPA works across the world including in Afghanistan, where more than nine million people are expected to lose access to health and protection services because of the US funding crisis, it said.   This will impact nearly 600 mobile health teams, family health houses and counselling centres, whose work will be suspended, Mr. Smith explained.   “Every two hours, a mother dies from preventable pregnancy complications, making Afghanistan one of the deadliest countries in the world for women to give birth. Without UNFPA’s support, even more lives will be lost at a time when the rights of Afghan women and girls are already being torn to pieces.”   In Pakistan, the UN agency warns that the US announcement will affect 1.7 million people, including 1.2 million Afghan refugees, who will be cut off from lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services, with the closure of over 60 health facilities.   In Bangladesh, nearly 600,000 people, including Rohingya refugees, face losing access to critical maternal and reproductive health services.   “This is not about statistics. This is about real lives. These are literally the world’s most vulnerable people,” Mr. Smith insisted. In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee camp complex –where more than one million Rohingya refugees remain trapped in dire conditions – nearly half of all births now take place in health facilities, with UNFPA’s support.   http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2025 http://www.nrc.no/news/2024/december/alarming-gap-in-humanitarian-assistance--millions-will-receive-no-support/ http://asiapacific.unfpa.org/en/news/unfpas-work-supporting-vulnerable-women-and-girls-south-asia   State Department freezes funding for nearly all US aid programs worldwide. (25 Jan.)   The US State Department has issued a halt to nearly all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid. It makes exceptions only for emergency food aid. The notice calls for a 90-day pause in all foreign development assistance programmes pending a review. The United States is the world's biggest international aid donor.   Dave Harden, a former US Agency of International Aid (USAID) mission director, told the BBC the move was "very significant", saying it could see humanitarian and development programmes funded by the US around the world being immediately suspended, while the review is carried out. He said it could affect a wide range of critical development projects including water, sanitation and shelter.   "Not only does it pause assistance, but it puts a 'stop work' order in existing contracts that are already funded and underway. It's extremely broad".   Leading aid organizations were interpreting the directive as an immediate stop-work order for U.S.-funded aid work globally, a former senior U.S. Agency for International Development official said. Many would likely cease operations immediately so as not to incur more costs, the official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.   Suspending funding “could have life or death consequences” for children and families around the world, said Abby Maxman, head of Oxfam America.   “By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is threatening the lives and futures of communities in crisis, and abandoning the United States’ long-held bipartisan approach to foreign assistance which supports people based on need, regardless of politics,” Maxman said in a statement.   At the United Nations, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said: “These are bilateral decisions but nonetheless we expect those nations who have the capability to generously fund development assistance".   InterAction, the leading alliance of U.S. international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said America’s humanitarian and development organizations work tirelessly to save lives.   "The recent stop-work cable from the State Department interrupts critical life-saving work including clean water to infants, basic education for kids, ending the trafficking of girls, and providing medications to children and others suffering from disease, it halts decades of life-saving work through PEPFAR that helps babies to be born HIV-free".   "The foreign assistance review mandated by the President should proceed without disrupting existing programs, especially those programs millions need to survive".   The National Council of the Churches in the USA (NCC) said it was “alarmed by the freeze on federal funding for aid programs providing assistance and support to millions of vulnerable people around the world.. NCC strongly urges the Trump Administration to immediately rescind the Order.. Humanitarian groups are already experiencing significant negative impacts. We pray for a swift reversal of this decision”.   UN Secretary-General calls on US to exempt development and humanitarian funds from aid ‘pause’.   “The United Nations Secretary-General notes with concern the announcement of a pause in US foreign assistance,” said the statement issued on behalf of Antonio Guterres by his Spokesperson. “The Secretary-General calls for additional exemptions to be considered to ensure the continued delivery of critical development and humanitarian activities for the most vulnerable communities around the world, whose lives and livelihoods depend on this support:   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159486   * 30 Dec. 2025   Assessing the Impact of Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze, interview with former senior USAid official Jeremy Konyndyk who now heads Refugees International. (Global Dispatches podcast): http://www.globaldispatches.org/p/assessing-the-impact-of-trumps-foreign   28 Jan. 2025   UN Agencies, Charities reel from US Aid freeze warn of ‘life or death’ effects.   News agencies report UN agencies have begun cutting back their global aid operations following the 90-day suspension of all foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration.   Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, responsible for providing life-saving assistance to the 122 million people forcibly displaced from their homes across 136 countries, sent out an overnight email to employees ordering an immediate clampdown on expenditure, including a 90-day delay in ordering new supplies except for emergencies, a hiring and contract freeze, and a halt to all international air travel, as the agency tries to adapt to the US funding freeze.   Grandi said the majority of UN agencies and other international aid organisations have been affected. Around the world, humanitarian assistance programmes have been forced to fire staff and slow down operations following the unprecedented US funding suspension ordered by Trump, pending a review of all aid programmes.   In his all-staff email, Grandi said: “We must proceed very carefully over the next few weeks to mitigate the impact of this funding uncertainty on refugees and displaced people, on our operations and on our teams.”   The US provided £2bn ($2.49bn) in funding to the UNHCR, according to the latest figures for 2024 – a fifth of the agency’s total budget.   Clinics in Uganda are scrambling to find new sources for vital HIV drugs, aid workers in Bangladesh fear refugee camp infrastructure will crumble, and mobile health units may have to stop treating civilians near the frontline in Ukraine. Services worldwide have been thrown into disarray by President Donald Trump’s executive order.   The US president’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) is included in the order. It provides antiretrovirals to 20 million people with HIV globally, and funds test kits and preventive medicine supplies for millions more. Already, clinics worldwide are reporting that supplies have been halted.   “This is a matter of life or death,” said Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society, adding that stopping Pepfar would be disastrous. “If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.”   (UN AIDS reports they have received an emergency waiver to allow the continuation of life-saving HIV treatment funded by the US across 55 countries worldwide).   The One campaign estimated that nearly 3 million children could be at higher risk of malaria if the president’s malaria initiative paused work for 90 days.   The Secretary General of The Danish Refugee Council; “The latest figures indicate that 60 per cent of global funding for humanitarian response remained unmet. Disrupting or cutting off life-saving aid will have deadly consequences at a moment when humanitarian crises are multiplying, and the needs are greater than ever”.   Andriy Klepikov, executive director of the Alliance for Public Health in Ukraine, said: “Mobile integrated medical services to people in remote locations closely located to the frontline are impacted. We provide mobile medical services to people in the areas where there are no clinics, doctors or nurses. This is a very demanded and effective programme. “I hope Ukraine – being amid the war – will be able to continue such critical services.”   Thomas Byrnes, who runs a consulting firm specialising in the humanitarian sector, said the sudden stop-work orders would have a harsh, far-reaching impact because of the extent the global system relies on US funding. The US provides 42.3% of global aid funding, according to the UN, and as much as 54% of the World Food Programme’s funding.   Byrnes said the “unprecedented” freeze was “forcing organisations to halt programmes abruptly, leading to job losses and reduction in essential services to vulnerable populations. They are so abrupt, there’s no cool-down period – it’s not in 30 days or 60 days. You have to stop now.”   http://www.interaction.org/statement/interaction-statement-on-recent-actions-impacting-usaid http://www.icvanetwork.org/90-day-suspension-orders/ http://www.icvanetwork.org/90-day-suspension-order-resources/ http://www.icvanetwork.org/the-humanitarian-imperative-must-come-first/ http://www.cgdev.org/blog/usaid-being-dismantled-when-world-needs-it-most http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2025/february/20250201_us-funding http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/02/tanzanians-with-hiv-left-in-crisis-as-u-s-aid-ends/ http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2025/01/pepfar-us-international-aid http://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/health/trump-usaid-pepfar.html http://www.npaid.org/mine-action-and-disarmament/news/all-of-npas-us-funded-activities-are-put-on-pause http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/28/charities-reeling-from-usaid-freeze-warn-of-life-or-death-effects   http://www.devex.com/news/i-don-t-think-anyone-can-survive-for-90-days-aid-s-grim-new-reality-109207 http://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/opinion/usaid-spending-trump-musk.html http://newrepublic.com/article/191063/death-usaid-trump-musk-lives http://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-usaid-humanitarian-aid-freeze-ukraine-gaza-sudan http://www.cgdev.org/blog/no-90-percent-aid-not-skimmed-reaching-target-communities http://www.cgdev.org/blog/secretary-rubio-waivers-arent-working-please-fix-process http://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/02/usaid-trump-foreign-aid-policy-why?lang=en http://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-merging-usaid-into-state-would-undermine-u-s-strategic-interests/ http://raskin.house.gov/2025/2/full-remarks-raskin-condemns-president-trump-and-elon-musk-s-illegal-and-unconstitutional-abolition-of-usaid-at-press-conference-outside-the-agency   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/almost-all-usaid-workers-will-be-pulled-off-the-job-worldwide-trump-administration-says http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/former-usaid-administrator-describes-global-impact-of-agencys-destruction http://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/world/usaid-us-foreign-aid-freeze-humanitarian-crises-intl/index.html http://apnews.com/article/usaid-trump-musk-leave-notice-rubio-943b4306b96f726703842e5d55c05aea http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/31/trumps-aid-freeze-shuts-down-gold-standard-famine-monitoring-system http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/30/donald-trump-foreign-aid-freeze-impact-south-east-asia http://www.dw.com/en/us-foreign-aid-freeze-sends-shock-waves-around-the-world/a-71478989
	Rich people having too much political influence leads to greater economic inequality by Pew Research Center   Jan. 2025   In 31 of 36 countries surveyed, majorities say that rich people having too much political influence results in greater economic inequality.   A new Pew Research Center survey of 36 nations finds widespread public concern about economic inequality. And when asked what leads to this inequality, most people across the countries surveyed point to the intersection of wealth and politics.   The key findings of the survey include:   A median of 54% of adults across the nations surveyed say the gap between the rich and the poor is a very big problem in their country. Another 30% say it is a moderately big problem.   A median of 60% believe that rich people having too much political influence contributes a great deal toward economic inequality.   These views are especially common among people on the ideological left, though many on the right agree. Ideological divisions are particularly large in the United States.   The survey, conducted in spring 2024, also finds deep global anxieties about the economic future and a strong desire for economic reform.   A median of 57% of adults across the nations polled expect children in their country to be worse off financially than their parents when they grow up.   This view is particularly widespread in several high-income nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the U.S.   For the most part, this pessimistic view about the economic future is shared by younger and older adults alike, as well as by people with higher and lower incomes.   However, in several countries, the public is more optimistic than pessimistic about the financial prospects of the next generation. These include a few South Asian and Southeast Asian nations: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.   And there is modest optimism in some Latin American nations, too. About half of those surveyed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico think today’s children will be better off than their parents, while around four-in-ten or more say they will be worse off.   In many countries, there is more economic pessimism today than before the COVID-19 pandemic – which hurt many people economically.   In 15 of 31 countries where trends are available, the share of the public who thinks children will be worse off financially than their parents is higher today than in pre-pandemic surveys.   Majorities in 33 of 36 nations also think their country’s economic system needs major changes or complete reform. People in middle-income nations in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region are especially likely to want this degree of change.   People in many wealthier countries want change, too. At least six-in-ten adults in most of the European nations surveyed want major economic changes or complete reform; 66% share this view in the U.S.   In almost every country polled, people who see economic inequality as a very big problem are significantly more likely than others to want major changes or complete economic reform.   What causes economic inequality? In our list of six potential factors, the strong connection between money and politics resonates most with respondents, topping the list in 31 of 36 countries.   Overall, more than eight-in-ten adults say that rich people having too much influence over politics contributes to economic inequality either a great deal (60% at the median) or a fair amount (26%).   But respondents see other factors as important, too. Majorities across the countries surveyed believe problems with the education system add to inequality in their nation.   Many also attribute inequality to some people working harder than others or some being born with more opportunities. Smaller but still notable shares cite other factors, including robots and computers doing work previously done by humans, and discrimination against racial or ethnic minorities.   Views of other forms of inequality   Nearly a decade and a half after the Occupy Wall Street protests in the U.S. – which coincided with similar movements in other countries – economic inequality remains the reality in many nations.   And as our survey highlights, this is a matter of strong public concern. More than eight-in-ten adults across the surveyed countries see the gap between rich and poor as a very or moderately big problem in their country.   But there’s concern about other forms of inequality as well. Roughly two-thirds say discrimination against people based on their race or ethnicity is a very or moderately big problem where they live, while about six-in-ten say this about gender inequality. And more than half describe discrimination against people based on their religion as a big problem.   Concerns about these issues are often tied to respondents’ demographic characteristics, background and experiences. For example, in some nations, people with lower incomes are especially worried about economic inequality; racial and ethnic minorities are more concerned about racial and ethnic discrimination; women are more concerned about gender inequality; and people who prioritize religion are more likely to see religious discrimination as a very big problem.   Ideological differences in views of economic inequality   On several questions in this survey, opinions vary significantly by political ideology.   For instance, while concerns about inequality are common across the ideological spectrum, in many countries people who place themselves on the left are especially likely to say the gap between rich and poor is a very big problem.   Those on the left are also particularly likely to see racial and ethnic discrimination and gender inequality as very big problems.   And the same pattern appears when it comes to the perceived causes of inequality. People on the left are more likely than those on the right to cite the political influence of the rich, racial discrimination, and the fact that some are born with more opportunities than others.   Some of the largest ideological divisions in the survey are in the U.S. For example, 76% of U.S. liberals say economic inequality is a very big problem in their country, compared with just 30% of conservatives. This 46 percentage point gap is the largest left-right differences across the countries surveyed. (The survey was conducted prior to the November 2024 U.S. presidential election.)   Views of inequality in middle- and high-income nations   The survey finds important differences between middle- and high-income nations in attitudes about income inequality.   While concerns about economic inequality are widespread in all the countries surveyed, people in middle-income nations are especially likely to describe it as a very big problem. They are also more likely to say that the rich having too much political influence is a major cause of inequality.   But when it comes to views about the economic future, people in middle-income nations are somewhat more positive. A median of 44% of adults in middle-income nations believe that when children in their country grow up, they will be financially better off than their parents. A median of just 26% in wealthier nations express this view.   http://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/01/09/economic-inequality-seen-as-major-challenge-around-the-world/ Visit the related web page
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