Oxfam takes a closer look at USAID, an agency that provides critical help to the world, and the impact of Trump’s aid freeze.
U.S. foreign aid plays a critical role in tackling poverty, hunger, and inequality worldwide, which is why the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign development assistance was met with public outrage and pushback from organizations, including Oxfam. This was followed by an announcement from the Trump administration that it would dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian and development assistance worldwide.
So what does the Trump administration's decision to reduce or even eliminate foreign aid mean, what impact could it have around the world, and why is it critical for the government to reverse this decision? Oxfam answers all of these questions and more.
What is USAID and what does it do?
Foreign aid programs help people around the world in various ways, providing food, healthcare, education, economic development, and disaster relief. It’s a key part of U.S. foreign policy and has proven to be an important factor in reducing global poverty. This type of assistance—from the United States as well as other governments and international institutions—has saved millions of lives.
In particular, USAID, which facilitates much of the foreign humanitarian and development assistance of the U.S. government, was established in 1961 as an independent agency to foster prosperity and save lives around the globe. USAID works on a wide range of issues, and it has brought lifesaving medicines, food, clean water, assistance for farmers, kept women and girls safe, promoted peace, and so much more over decades, all for less than one percent of our federal budget.
“There is not a single area of development and humanitarian assistance USAID has not been involved in,” said Oxfam America’s President and CEO Abby Maxman, who has been working in international development for 30 years. “People at USAID have been thought leaders implementing ideas at scale, in wide ranging areas -- I don’t think there is a major area of the development system in which USAID did not bring its technical know-how, research, and evidence.”
How much aid does the U.S. give to foreign countries?
The United States typically spends around one percent of the federal budget on foreign development assistance, which includes both humanitarian assistance and development programs. The agency overseeing much of U.S. foreign aid is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which had a budget of $63 billion in fiscal year 2023. Within the broad definition of foreign aid, the exact amount of poverty-focused development aid carried out by USAID varies from year to year, but recently it has been around 0.49 percent of the federal budget, which works out to about $105 per U.S. citizen per year.
What are some examples of how USAID has helped people?
USAID’s work abroad covers many regions and issues including HIV prevention, the humanitarian crisis in Congo, war relief in Ukraine, among numerous others.
One of the efforts funded by USAID – which will come to a halt given the Trump administration’s attack on the agency – is involved in mine clearing in Southeast Asia, where unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War have killed tens of thousands of people. Although USAID has provided treatment to people maimed by these weapons, there is still plenty of work to be done that will be affected by the cuts. Experts say it could take another 100 years to completely clear the region of the land mines, while the aid suspension will create disastrous conditions for people living in high-risk areas.
Another program, which has saved the lives of millions, is the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Since 2003, the program has saved over 25 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and supported countries in HIV epidemic control. The program has been incredibly successful in increasing HIV testing, providing lifesaving treatment, and improving health systems around the world. Now, under the aid freeze, PEPFAR’s future is under threat, potentially leaving more than 20 million people – including 500,000 children – at risk without adequate HIV treatment and services.
“In Côte d’Ivoire, 70 percent of antiretroviral medication in the country, on which people living with HIV and AIDS depend, is provided through PEPFAR,” Maxman says she learned in a meeting with country partners in early February. “If we cut off the program, literally 70 percent of the people living with HIV will lose their treatment. The uncertainty this introduces is cruel.”
These are just two of the many and wide-ranging programs that USAID funds, and illustrates the threat that people face under the proposal to dismantled the agency.
How much impact would the closing of USAID have?
Aid workers in war zones have already experienced what cutting off U.S. foreign aid would be like when the Trump administration announced a 90-day halt in foreign assistance. This stop-work order occurred while hundreds of thousands of people in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo were fleeing violence, with many gathering in the city of Goma, where local water and sanitation infrastructure cannot meet their needs. Aid organizations funded by USAID were forced to immediately stop essential work providing clean water and other life-saving aid to people affected by conflict and badly in need of help. “The displaced population in Goma now face dire conditions that threaten their health, safety, and well-being,” Oxfam stated in a press release. “Without proper shelter and access to critical resources, the risk of disease outbreaks including the Mpox virus which has already claimed countless lives in the country further compounds their trauma.”
Although the U.S. government did subsequently allow a narrow range of “ life-saving" humanitarian aid to continue, there are now numerous reports that the Trump administration intends to shut down USAID and discontinue much of its long-term development and emergency assistance. "We have already witnessed the life-threatening, wide-ranging impacts of a temporary disruption to U.S. foreign assistance,” noted Maxman, in a press statement. “This action would expand those disruptions exponentially by punishing the people who are already suffering the most, undermining U.S. credibility and interests, and halting decades of progress toward a safer, more equal world."
WHAT IS THE GREATEST CONCERN ABOUT THE IMPACT THESE CUTS COULD HAVE?
When it comes to reductions or the elimination of crucial foreign aid, it’s hard to say which areas would cause the greatest concern. But we know that we are going to see terrible impacts on people in places like Sudan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Aid cuts will most severely affect people in areas enduring conflict and dire emergencies, and where people are suffering in the worst forms of poverty. Many displaced people will face unacceptably high risks of water-borne diseases (such as cholera) in refugee camps. With no support for childhood immunizations and maternal health programs, mothers and children will be at a higher risk of preventable diseases. Long-term projects to improve governance, education, public safety, increase food production, and efforts to reduce violence against women and girls and the threat of conflict will all be affected.
Cutting these types of initiatives may serve only to prolong a country’s path out of poverty. Maxman said in a press release in January that eliminating the work of USAID and U.S. foreign assistance “would be cruel, intentionally harmful and directly at odds with U.S. interests.”