Study reveals that halting foreign assistance by Trump could lead to a potential rise of 14 million fatalities globally.

The decision by Donald Trump to significantly cut US funding for foreign humanitarian aid is predicted to result in over 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to research published in the medical journal The Lancet on Monday. The research indicates that a third of those at risk of premature deaths would be children. In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Trump’s administration had cancelled more than 80% of programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The funding cuts threaten to not only halt but reverse two decades of progress in health among vulnerable populations, according to Davide Rasella, a co-author of the Lancet report. The report comes as world leaders are convening in Seville, Spain, for a UN-led aid conference, the largest such gathering in a decade. The researchers analyzed data from 133 nations and estimated that USAID funding had prevented 91 million deaths in developing countries between 2001 and 2021. They used modeling to project the impact of an 83% funding reduction, which could lead to over 14 million avoidable deaths by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under five. The Trump administration aims to shrink the federal workforce and has accused USAID of supporting liberal projects. The US is the largest humanitarian aid provider in the world, operating in over 60 countries. Despite remaining programs under the US State Department and in consultation with Congress, the situation on the ground has not improved. UN workers report that hundreds of thousands of people are slowly starving in Kenyan refugee camps due to reduced food rations following US funding cuts.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jjpm7zv8o