The United States is significantly reducing its expenditure on aid, with the most drastic impact being felt in Africa, historically the largest recipient of U.S. aid after Ukraine during the years 2022 and 2023. In 2024, nearly $12.7 billion out of $41 billion in American foreign assistance went to sub-Saharan Africa, with billions more allocated to global programs, like health and climate initiatives, for which Africa was a leading beneficiary. However, all of that aid is on the verge of disappearing following President Trump’s decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a move criticized for potentially undoing decades of progress in areas such as life-saving efforts, poverty reduction, terror combat, and human rights promotion across the continent, which is both the youngest and the fastest-growing globally.

Trump administration officials have accused USAID of inefficiency and fraud. President Trump’s speech to Congress highlighted aid expenditure on L.G.B.T.Q. issues globally, referencing specifically the lesser-known African nation of Lesotho. Nonetheless, a recent Supreme Court ruling mandated that USAID and the State Department reimburse contractors up to $2 billion for work completed, though this ruling does little to mitigate the broader implications of the decision to slash foreign aid.

A detailed examination by The New York Times of government spending patterns revealed that the majority of the aid has been utilized for humanitarian, health,

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/world/africa/africa-usaid-funds.html