The South China Morning Post published on 7 August 2026 an article titled "What China's Expanded Funding for HIV/Aids in Africa Means as US Cuts Health Aid" by Jevans Nyabiage.
As the United States reduces its funding in Africa for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, China is modestly increasing assistance. US funding remains, however, much higher than that coming from China.
The New York Times published on 1 July 2026 a commentary titled "U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Killed People. That's the Truth" by Nicholas Kristof.
Elon Musk, who at the beginning of the Trump administration ran DOGE, the organization that dismantled the US Agency for International Development, insists "there is not even a single dead child" as a result of the actions by DOGE.
Nicholas Kristof, who has met with family members in Africa of dead children, begs to differ. In addition, studies by university researchers and by Lancet, a British medical journal, estimate that deaths due to USAID financial cuts are in the hundreds of thousands.
Propublica published on 22 June 2026 an article titled "'A Huge Grab of Power': Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid" by Anna Maria Barry-Jester.
Bipartisan support for foreign aid remains in the US Congress despite the Trump administration's dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development and its effort to minimize US foreign assistance now administered by the State Department, which does not have the capacity to manage it in any event.
The China-Africa Security Radar posted on 19 June 2026 an article titled "China's Health Diplomacy in Africa: Health Security, Infrastructure, and Strategic Competition" by Lungani Hlongwa.
A small team of Chinese health experts has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help the country combat the Ebola outbreak. This is part of China's long standing health diplomacy in Africa, which follows familiar patterns as the United States cuts back its health care assistance and alters its approach.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in January 2026 a study titled "China and the Changing International Development Landscape" by Jingdong Yuan.
The current level of China's overseas development assistance makes it impossible for Beijing to fill the gap left by the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development. Beijing is more willing to promote its development aid model of infrastructure-driven and trade-related growth.
Post Strategy published on 17 December 2025 a commentary titled "On China" by Judd Devermont, senior director for African affairs in President Biden's National Security Council.
The author said China is seeking to reorder the world to its benefit and Africa is an important part of that effort.
Africans want to be given respect and dignity, and they welcome investment from all foreign partners, including China. They don't want to become too dependent on one external partner because it limits their leverage, options, and opportunities.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations struggled with finding the right balance in countering China in Africa. To meet the challenge posed by China today, the United States needs to redefine its relationship with its African partners and repair the recent damage that has been done to that relationship.
The Pulitzer Center posted on 12 December 2025 an article titled "Pulled Lifelines: Uganda's Mental Health System Scrambles after U.S. Aid Freeze" by Shawn Bayrd.
The Trump administration early this year froze support for Uganda's USAID and PEPFAR health programs. The funding freeze has had a devastating impact on Uganda's ability to manage its mental health program.
The New York Times published on 3 November 2025 an article titled "The Monthslong Legal Battle to Save Foreign Aid" by Zach Montague.
During the past 9 months, the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and continues efforts to end most foreign aid. The courts are the final obstacle to this effort as the US Congress remains AWOL. The courts have not yet settled the core issues at stake although USAID no longer exists as an organization.
AllAfrica.com posted on 23 October 2025 a commentary titled "Africa Should Not Expect Much from Donald Trump" by Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Obama administration.
Carson looks back and forwards, concluding that the Trump administration will be minimally engaged in Africa as programs from previous administrations shut down.
The Washington Post published on 10 October 2025 an article titled "Medical Supply Shortages Follow U.S. Aid Cuts in Africa" by Tobi Raji and Katharine Houreld.
Africa has reportedly lost more than $8 Billion in funding since the Trump administration dismantled USAID earlier this year, The impact has been especially significant in the case of US-financed health care programs. The article emphasizes the damage on programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.
The New York Times published on 23 July 2025 an article titled "U.S. Quietly Drafts Plan to End Program That Saved Millions from AIDS" by Stephanie Nolen.
Planning documents for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) obtained by The New York Times call for changes that would effectively end the program. The planning documents, which have not yet been approved by the senior level of the State Department, would replace PEPFAR by "bilateral relationships" with low-income countries focused on the detection of outbreaks that could threaten the United States and the creation of new markets for American drugs and technologies.
The Hill Published on 20 July 2025 an article titled "A Postmortem on the Dismantling of USAID" by Glenn C. Altschuler, Cornell University.
The Trump administration cancelled 83 percent of USAID's programs and laid off 94 percent of its 4,500 employees, transferring the few remaining staff to the State Department. The author concluded that the dismantling of USAID has already had a negative impact on the lives of tens of millions of vulnerable people in 130 countries and undermined US national interest.
The Economist published on 15 July 2025 an article titled "Five Charts Explain Trump's Cuts to Foreign Aid."
The Economist displays in five charts the impact of the dismantlement of USAID. In terms of impact as a percent of gross national income, Africa is the most affected continent. Funding cuts by sector primarily impact infrastructure (100%), basic education (99%), administrative costs (94%), and maternal and child health (92%).
The least affected programs are economic growth (12%), refugees and IDPs (13%), and HIV/AIDS (20%). Projected global deaths in 2026 due to the health care cuts total 973,000.
The Oklahoman published on 7 July 2025 a commentary titled "The Cruelty of Ending Work of USAID Erases a Lifetime of Humanitarianism" by Kama Garrison, former USAID employee.
The author offers a personal account of the abrupt end of her career at the US Agency for International Development. She concludes that her reaction is not about partisan politics. It is about moral unraveling.
NPR posted on 1 July 2025 a commentary titled "Farewell to USAID: Reflections on the Agency that President Trump Dismantled" by Ari Daniel.
This account emphasizes that the State Department is ill prepared to manage what is left of USAID programs now that the foreign aid agency has been formally abolished. The State Department has neither the staff nor skill sets needed to oversee emergency humanitarian programs.
The New York Times published on 22 June 2025 an article titled "What Remains of U.S.A.I.D.?" by Amy Schoenfeld Walker, Malika Khurana, and Christine Zhang.
The USAID projects that survived DOGE dismantlement of the agency are the result of pleas and negotiations of a few politically important people, many of whom had little experience in foreign aid. Some 891 programs constituting 14 percent of the previous total and $69 billion survived and will be administered by the State Department. DOGE cancelled USAID projects worth $76 billion over several years.
There was no comprehensive review of previous programs. The focus going forward is addressing acute disease, hunger, and other humanitarian emergencies. The State Department does not have the staff, resources, or expertise to oversee the programs that survived DOGE cuts.
The New York Times published on 21 June 2025 a commentary titled "The Waste Musk Created" by Nicolas Kristof.
The article provides examples of waste in US government financed programs in Africa because of the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), not the existence of USAID.
The Washington Post published on 17 June 2025 a commentary titled "The Retreat from Aid Is a Costly Mistake" by Eduardo Porter.
While the Trump administration has thrown foreign aid into the woodchipper, other Western countries including the UK, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden have cut development assistance budgets. Their cuts have not been as dramatic as the US dismantlement of USAID, but the author explains why these changes are a mistake.
The Pulitizer Center published on 5 June 2025 a story titled "U.S. Aid Helped Two African Countries Rein in HIV. Then Came Trump" by Jon Cohen.
President George W. Bush's PEPFAR program controlled the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in countries like Eswatini and Lesotho. Significant cuts in the PEPFAR program by the Trump administration are already interrupting this lifesaving assistance.
Foreign Policy published on 19 May 2025 a commentary titled "The 'America First' Case for U.S. Engagement in Africa" by Curtis Bell and Christopher Faulkner, both at the U.S. Naval War College.
Instead of retreating from Africa, the Trump administration should embrace a smarter form of transactionalism. The authors argue that US policy toward Africa should refocus around four strategic priorities: supporting resilient and self-sufficient regional organizations; curbing threats to US security at their source; fostering African support for US positions in international institutions; and co-developing a positive economic vision for the continent that promotes economic development and integration while resisting extractive and abusive economic practices of rival global powers.
