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.
The South China Morning Post published on 19 April 2026 an article titled "China Steps Up Aid to Africa but Huge Funding Gap Left by Trump's Cuts Remains" by Jevans Nyabiage.
Large cuts in aid to Africa by the Trump administration (and other donors) have left major gaps in funding of essential programs. China has increased its health diplomacy and donations of food aid but has hardly made a dent in the gap left by Washington and several other donor countries.
Devex Newswire posted on 4 March 2026 an article titled "US Aid Cuts Gut South Africa's HIV Fight" by Helen Murphy.
South Africa bears the world's largest HIV/AIDS burden. US foreign aid cuts and the dismantlement of USAID have ripped through its response to the disease, forcing clinics to close and leaving thousands of vulnerable patients scrambling for care. A State Department spokesperson responded that it is time for governments to take responsibility for the lives of people in their countries.
The New York Times published on 8 February 2026 a commentary titled "What We Lost When We Lost USAID" by Jeremy Konyndyk, Refugees International.
Aside from the tangible damage done to dismantled programs that aided the world's needy, American foreign assistance policy is a reflection of who our country wants to be and of the kind of world we seek to build. The demise of the US Agency for International Development is resulting in an America that increasingly stands isolated and friendless.
CNN published on 4 February 2026 an article titled "One Year on from Dismantlement of USAID, Study Projects that Global Aid Cuts Could Lead to 9.4 Million Deaths by 2030" by Lauren Kent.
The Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID) early last year. A new study by the Lancet medical journal projects that the human toll of these aid cuts could lead to at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030.
The Center for Global Development reports that the dismantlement of USAID may have led to between 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives lost in 2025 compared to previous years.
Stimson published on 20 November 2025 a commentary titled "Trump's Critical Minerals Search in Africa Won't Tip the Scales Against China" by Mathew Burrows and Benjamin Weise.
As the United States pulls back from Africa and narrows its interest to the extraction of critical minerals, China and Russia are expanding their engagement on the continent.
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.
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.
The New York Times published on 30 May 2025 a commentary titled "Elon Musk's Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death" by Michelle Goldberg.
Elon Musk's DOGE terminated more than 80 percent of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) grants and dismantled the foreign aid agency. One estimate places the number of deaths as a result of these decisions already at 300.000. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists there have been no deaths.
Comment: It is impossible to know how many deaths have occurred as a result of ending or cutting back USAID's life saving foreign aid programs. But anyone with extensive experience in the Global South, especially Africa, knows there have been deaths and the death rate will almost certainly increase going forward so long as these cuts remain in place.
The Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University posted on 9 April 2025 a commentary titled "Reform Foreign Aid, Don't Abandon It" by Lee H. Hamilton, former Democratic Congressman from Indiana.
Slashing foreign aid is wrong-headed because it is a key tool of foreign policy, the right thing for America to do, and far less costly than most Americans believe. Foreign aid should be reformed, not eliminated.
Ethiopia Insight published on 20 March 2025 a commentary titled "The US Retreat from Global Leadership" by Muktar Ismail, former advisor to Ethiopia's Somali Region president.
The author concludes that the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development and collapse of foreign aid will expose governance fragility in the Horn of Africa and result in less US influence in the region.
VOX published on 16 March 2025 an article titled "The Devastating Impact of Trump's Slashing Foreign Aid, in 3 Charts" by Jess Craig.
This article provides some numbers on the global impact of slashing foreign aid, especially in the health care sector.
The Associated Press published on 13 March 2025 an article titled "US Aid Cuts Are Hurting Africa's Ability to Respond to Disease Outbreaks" by Rodney Muhumuza.
The Director General of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, said recent cuts in US foreign aid are hurting Africa's capacity to respond to disease outbreaks such as Ebola and mpox and are leaving health systems in Africa in disarray.
Foreign Policy published on 14 March 2025 an article titled "PEPFAR Cuts Hit Uganda's Most Vulnerable" by Andrew Green.
The decision by the Trump administration to freeze foreign aid is starting to impact recipients of HIV/AIDS medication in Africa. This is the account of service at a clinic for marginalized Ugandans who are no longer receiving a pill known as PrEP or preexposure prophylaxis because of the freeze on US foreign aid.
The New York Times published on 8 February 2025 an article titled "Ambassador Tells Marco Rubio U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Would Cause 'Major Vulnerability' in Africa" by Edward Wong.
US ambassador to Mozambique, Peter Vrooman, sent an urgent cable to Secretary of State Marco Rubio protesting the withdrawal of all USAID employees, arguing it will be impossible to manage the complex $1.5 billion aid programs without adequate staff. Other US ambassadors in Africa have sent similar communications to Washington.
