Thousands of people around the world are left without vital aid, and many humanitarian organizations are being forced to close their operations or lay off staff because of US President Donald Trump's decision to freeze most foreign aid for 90 days. This is revealed by a survey by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), covering 246 humanitarian organizations, quoted by "Reuters", BTA reports.
The United States, until recently the world's largest humanitarian aid donor, provided about $ 14 billion in 2024. However, as part of his "America First" policy, Trump has begun dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which he described as "radical fanatics". This has had immediate consequences for crisis regions around the world.
According to the ICVA report, two-thirds of the organizations surveyed have been affected by the funding cuts, with some having completely ceased operations. Among them are therapeutic feeding centers that provide care for malnourished children and pregnant women.
"The humanitarian architecture is collapsing", the report warns. The cuts are leaving thousands of people without access to life-saving treatment, including 1,500 people living with HIV. In Brazil, sanitation facilities for Venezuelan migrants have been closed, and in an unnamed Asian country, more than three million internally displaced people are no longer receiving humanitarian support.
The funding freeze has also affected large-scale medical programs. In South Africa, trials of a promising HIV vaccine have been halted, and hundreds of millions of dollars in medical supplies remain stranded around the world. In some cases, the consequences are already fatal – On the Thai-Myanmar border, a US-funded hospital was closed, leading to the death of a patient with a lung condition who was dependent on oxygen therapy.
Local aid organizations have been hit hardest, lacking the financial reserves to last the 90 days. In South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and parts of Asia, at least 11 local NGOs have been forced to close.
"We have had to lay off hundreds of staff... It's a desperate situation," said a representative of an international aid organization.
Although Washington allows some exceptions for emergency aid, experts say the system is not working effectively. Current and former USAID employees told Reuters that bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of access to payment systems have blocked the approval and disbursement of funds.
Among the organizations already scaling back is the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has suspended operations in nearly 20 countries, including Ukraine, where emergency aid for 57,000 people has been halted. Catholic Relief Services, which has about 5,000 employees, is also planning layoffs.