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US aid cuts set to lead to tens of millions of deaths

Jul 1, 2025, 6:54am EDT
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Congolese refugees look through a corrugated metal fence at the final batches of food delivered by the now-dismantled United States Agency for International Development.
Luis Tato/AFP via Getty.

Washington’s foreign aid cuts could lead to an additional 14 million deaths by 2030 as countries scramble to make up for the sudden, massive shortfall.

According to a report in The Lancet, up to a third of those premature deaths would be of children, with sub-Saharan Africa likely to be hardest hit.

US humanitarian assistance has plunged by around 80% since billionaire Elon Musk — who as a White House aide oversaw drastic budget cuts — boasted of feeding aid agency USAID “into the wood chipper.

The abrupt cuts have already led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to one estimate, with one expert telling the BBC that further reductions would wipe out “two decades of progress in health among vulnerable populations.

A chart showing the world’s biggest foreign aid donors in 2023, before the dismantling of USAID.
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