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The recent decision to put an end to projects and make in-depth discounts of the workforce to the American Agency for International Development (USAID), the main American agency responsible for providing almost half of World Development Assistance to the countries of the world, could have devastating impacts, including millions of deaths.
Michael Vanrooyendirector of Harvard humanitarian initiative (HHI)Professor of the Lavine Family of Humanitarian Studies at the Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health, and Head of Emergency Medicine for the General Health System of Mass Brigham, discusses the immediate and potential impacts of the Trump administration.
On the immediate effect of decline in funding …
The dominant and sustainable impact of assistance reductions in NGOs and United Nations agencies is the rapid reduction in critical assistance which will have an impact on millions of people based on life services, health care and emergency services. Irony is that we cannot know the real impact of the retraction of aid because the decrees have also eliminated data collection systems such as the early alert system of famine, we are therefore not able to really calculate the effect of the retraction of humanitarian aid. Many development programs have been affected, such as Pepfar (the US President’s emergency plan for the relief of AIDS), which is of crucial importance to prevent the spread of HIV. In addition, crucial humanitarian aid programs have already been affected, with interruptions of emergency health care and food delivery. In some cases, the distribution of food has been interrupted because there are no staff to deliver food stuck in warehouses. The sudden collapse of programs has already affected hundreds of thousands of people who depend on humanitarian aid.
The impact on Hhi’s work in Ukraine …
One of our main partners is the international medical profession. We have a series of programs (with them) in Ukraine that support the health care system and the programs have been stopped. We had to remove our teams and reduce all this activity.
In these programs, we mainly worked with emergency speakers – everyone from civilians to nurses and doctors who do things like support for advanced life and support for pediatric life. We supported these leading workers with emergency medical training, first aid and RCR in advanced trauma and disaster preparation.
Ukraine has a desperate shortage of health labor, and it requires the support of organizations like HHI so that people work in very difficult conditions. Our work improves their expertise in the management of war victims and encourages medical suppliers to stay there, instead of abandoning it and departure. The programs have been crucial to strengthen the emergency health system in Ukraine and keep clinics and hospitals open and provided in personnel. We have now had to withdraw entirely.
The effect on other HHI partner organizations …
The elimination of the financing of the USAID for humanitarian efforts is not only the loss of jobs. It is the loss of the humanitarian system and institutional memory and the ability to evolve for future emergencies. HHI’s mission was to professionalize humanitarian aid, but with our stopped contracts, the ability to support the sector is threatened. The impact is felt not only by the main rescue organizations, but also by the United Nations agencies. There will be a major thinking about the United Nations agencies will be able to do.
The biggest effects of financing cups …
The US rescue budget is around $ 15.6 billion, or about 0.25% of the US budget. However, it represents around 43% of global global humanitarian financing. So when we stop these programs, there is a huge negative impact.
A large part of these US dollars go to food aid, and in particular the support of the global food program, which is the largest organization distributing food and supporting a humanitarian life buoy for more than 150 million people. The collapse of the supply chain for the distribution of food will emphasize millions, pushing certain vulnerable populations of food insecurity under the conditions of famine, where mortality rates are extremely high. In the coming months, malnutrition rates will increase and could cause much higher mortality rates, especially in Central and North Africa.
The long -term impact of these policy changes …
I think we have to take the long -term view. Humanitarian aid saves not only live lives, but it also helps us keep the fragile countries more stable. It reduces conflicts. It reduces migration. And that improves American security.
There is also the fact that deadly diseases are easily spread, as we saw during Covid. If you think that leaving AIDS burning in the less developed world is good for America, this is not the case. Because the global epidemic will be unsuitable.
The role and impact of the USAID help work can be misunderstood …
You never hear about the big stops in the world. You never hear about the famines avoided.
Each government agency has ineffectiveness. But the remedy for this is a thoughtful assessment and a thoughtful reallocation of funding, not a cup and then let it die. (I fear that) The general public is simply not aware of the real consequences (of this decision to withdraw international aid on help).