Trump’s closing down of USAID (and his pausing of foreign assistance) is having a devastating effect on humanity. Across the world, millions who once had access to lifesaving materials and funds are now in a state of panic and danger. Diseases including TB, HIV, and malaria are expected to skyrocket, and those who are already infected are no longer receiving the care they need. Hunger is sweeping across the globe as expected food deliveries do not arrive. Crisis zones are in dire shape, as the aid necessary for stabilizing them has vanished. But at least, Elon Musk is ‘saving’ us money, right?

One major slash to funding was to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This program works to provide prenatal, postnatal, and sexual healthcare to women and girls across the world. It holds the goal of ending child marriage, female genital mutilation, preventable maternal death, and other gender-based violence, by 2030. The cuts to its funding make that goal and the daily functions of UNFPA impossible to carry out, leaving the women and girls of 150 nations without life-saving interventions.

In Africa, rates of disease that USAID’s funding fought are dramatically rising. For example, across South Africa, the USAID funded programs that provided HIV treatment have shutdown. South Africa has the world’s largest number of people living with HIV, around 8 million. One study estimates that the loss of one USAID-funded program, PEPFAR, will singly result in 601,000 HIV deaths and 565,000 new HIV infections in South Africa alone over ten years. Furthermore, UNAIDS, which also lost USAID funding, reports that if funding is not restored, a growth of 8.7 million HIV-infected persons and a tenfold increase of AIDS related deaths, 6.3 million, is expected.

Broadly, much of humanity is losing access to life saving food and nutritional care. With the freeze to foreign aid, 500,000 tons of food are now left rotting in storehouses as millions go hungry. In Sudan, the pause closed more than 1,100 communal kitchens, leaving nearly 2 million Sudanese struggling to survive. Furthermore, the Famine Early Warning System Network, which could use a variety of scientific and political data to detect potential famines, is now offline.

The State Department attempted to exempt emergency food aid and other lifesaving programs in a waiver. However, since no one understood what this exactly means, and the usual channels of USAID application cut off, the attempt for damage mitigation is fruitless. Perhaps the federal government should have considered the massive number of illness and death before freezing lifesaving aid.

What was covered above is a small piece of the massive damage that the dismantling of USAID and the pause on foreign aid has done to the world. This was not to mention the cholera, TB, and malaria outbreaks happening across the world that would have been prevented by USAID. Or the hospitals in Haiti that no longer have the support they need to give proper care to rape victims under the country’s gang rule. There is no doubt that these policies have been deadly and damaging to humanity.

Analysis

There are several explanations for Trump’s draconian foreign aid policies. The first, and most distasteful, is that the administration cares little about what happens to poor people in developing countries; or about America’s historical commitment, as the leader of the free world, to helping those countries remain stable.

Secondly it should be noted that the Trump/Musk team singled out USAID as the first agency they chose to cut because of the small base of resident support for foreign aid. The foreign assistance community is relatively small, compared to the support communities for fields like veterans’ affairs and education where we are likely to see greater citizen pushback. There is also existing support for reducing foreign aid, with around 51% of Americans prefer reductions in economic assistance and only 33% interested in keeping it the same.

The closing of USAID also is illegal. It is Congress, not the White House, that has the power to open and close federal agencies. In the case of the closure of USAID Congress was not consulted, nor have they voiced disapproval of Trump’s actions. The inaction of Congress in the face of this illegal action will lend confidence to the Trump administration for further actions that violate and stretch the law.

No one is pretending anymore. The current administration is demonstrating that caring about developing countries is considered weak and soft. However, we do see some hope. On March 5, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled to unfreeze the $2 billion in foreign aid that Donald Trump halted. While binding, Trump has promised to ignore Court orders, and this could be the start of a Constitutional crisis if Trump attempts to do so. However, if the government works as it is meant to, the released State Department funds can reach the people that need it. The order demands only that existing contracts must be fulfilled and does not approve any future funding, leaving little time for recipients to find new sources of funding support.

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