US Aid Cuts: 14M+ Deaths Risk

Collapse American funding dedicated to international aiddecided by the administration of Donald Trump, could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030 among the most vulnerable, including a third of children, according to a projection published Tuesday July 1 The Lancet. “They may suddenly, or even reverse two decades of progress for the health of vulnerable populations. For many countries with low or intermediate income, the resulting shock would be of a magnitude comparable to that of a world pandemic or a major armed conflict ”commented Davide Rasella, co -author of the study and researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, quoted in a press release.

The publication of this study in the prestigious medical journal coincides with A conference on development of development Bringing together leaders around the world in Spain, the United States appearing among the absent. This meeting is held in a particularly dark context for development aid, hit hard by the massive funding of funding decided by Donald Trump since returned to the White House in January.

A cut of 83% of American financing

By examining the data from 133 countries, the international team of researchers believed in retrospect that the programs financed by the USAID made it possible to avoid 91 million deaths in low -income and intermediate income countries between 2001 and 2021. And, according to their modeling, the 83% of American financing – figure announced by the government in early 2025 – could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, 4.5 million children under the age of five, or around 700,000 deaths of additional children per year.

Because the programs supported by the USAID were linked to a decrease of 15% of deaths, all causes combined, calculated these researchers. For children under the age of five, the drop in deaths has been twice as large (32%). The strongest impact of this aid was observed for avoidable diseases. Mortality due to HIV/AIDS was thus reduced by 74%, that of malaria by 53% and that of neglected tropical diseases of 51% in countries benefiting from the highest level of aid compared to those with little or no funding from USAID, according to the study.

Other donors have also announced cuts

Another source of concern: other major international donors, mainly European, such as Germany, the United Kingdom or France, also announced cuts in their foreign aid budgets in the wake of the United States. This risk of“Train even more deaths in the coming years”warned Caterina Monti, another co -author of the researcher study at Isglobal. About fifty heads of state and government – including French president Emmanuel Macron and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen – participate in the conference on development funding in Seville for four days, alongside 4,000 representatives of civil society. “It’s time to increase, not to reduce” Help, argued Davide Rasella.

Before size in its funding, USAID represented 0.3% of American federal spending. “American citizens pay approximately 17 hundred a day to the USAID, or about $ 64 a year. I think most people would support the maintenance of the USAID funding if they knew how much a small contribution can be effective in saving millions of lives ”said James Macinko, co-author of the study and professor at the University of California (UCLA).