Insecure and hungry

It was supposed to be a three-month suspension. Instead, the closure and structural dismantling (with estimated cuts of up to 83% of programs) of USAID (United States Agency for International Development), the US development cooperation agency, initiated in early 2025 by the Trump administration, have led to an unprecedented humanitarian and economic catastrophe across the African continent. First, the healthcare system collapsed because USAID was funding much of the logistics for drug distribution and support for local medical personnel. The PEPFAR program against AIDS and tuberculosis suffered supply chain disruptions. In large countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, millions of patients have lost consistent access to antiretrovirals, with an estimated drastic increase in mortality and new infections. Another unbearable impact is the increase in maternal and infant mortality before, during, and during childbirth. The closure of US-funded rural clinics has left millions of children without basic care, with profound repercussions for mission hospitals. It is estimated that the lack of vaccinations and prenatal care is already causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. A side note: this is a remarkable achievement for an administration voted by many American Catholics for its pro-life policies. It's thought-provoking: is the life of African children and mothers worth less? Not to mention the other scourge of malaria. The distribution of mosquito nets and antimalarial drugs has stopped in many endemic areas, leading to peaks in infections precisely during the rainy seasons.

The funding freeze has directly impacted food security at a time of extreme climate fragility and increasing conflicts, such as the one in Sudan, which are making it difficult to cultivate crops. But not only has food shipments stopped: we've witnessed the paradox of aid being blocked because the entire logistics chain has been paralyzed. When funds were frozen, tons of wheat and medical supplies remained stuck in the port of Djibouti, on their way to Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country, and the entire Horn of Africa, where millions of people rely on humanitarian assistance.

Ethiopia represents perhaps the most dramatic scenario because the closure of USAID was compounded by the effects of internal conflict and drought. The Ethiopian government, already in financial crisis, lacked the immediate liquidity to release these goods, which in many cases perished in containers. This exacerbated an already critical situation, pushing entire regions toward famine. And in the refugee camps, where mostly women and children fleeing conflict and extreme weather events arrive, the UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP), which received a huge portion of their budget from the US, had to cut food rations in the refugee camps. Finally, the cuts have created unemployment: thousands of local workers (doctors, drivers, logisticians, administrators) working on USAID-funded projects have been laid off overnight. This has removed a vital middle class from many fragile economies. Although countries like China or Russia, and to some extent the European Union, are trying to reposition themselves, none have the widespread logistics capacity that USAID had built over 60 years. Many African governments, feeling "abandoned," are accelerating the diversification of their alliances, further distancing themselves from the Western orbit. If Donald Trump really wants the Nobel Peace Prize, he should reopen USAID immediately.
 

Paolo Lambruschi
NP December 2025