How USAID birth control meant for Africa was ruined [New York Times] ↳
The New York Times reports that millions of dollars worth of USAID-funded contraceptives destined for sub-Saharan Africa were deemed unusable after being improperly stored in a Belgian warehouse.
Dadaab voices: What’s behind the rise in refugee suicides? [The New Humanitarian] ↳
In Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex, slashed aid, closed resettlement pathways, and terminated aid worker contracts are driving a rise in suicides among a population living in decades-long displacement, The New Humanitarian reports.
Aid groups crippled by foreign aid cuts plead for funds as Middle East humanitarian crisis grows [AP] ↳
Humanitarian organizations crippled by the dismantling of USAID are scrambling to respond to the widening war in the Middle East, where an estimated 3.2 million Iranians and 1 million Lebanese have been displaced, reports the AP.
Maternal mortality rises in US aid-dependent countries under Republican presidents, study shows [The Guardian] ↳
A new study finds that Republican presidencies are associated with a 10.5% increase in maternal deaths in countries with above-average reliance on U.S. family planning aid. According to The Guardian, over 90% of all USAID awards for reproductive health programs have been terminated since the start of 2025, deepening concerns that decades of progress are being rapidly undone.
Built with US aid, Egypt’s elite science academies now face collapse
A network of STEM academies once held up as a model for modern education is unraveling after the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. support, exposing the fragility of reforms built on external expertise.
Photo Credit: Thomas Cristofoletti / USAID
New HIV drug arrives in Zimbabwe, promising protection but testing health systems after aid cuts [SBS] ↳
Zimbabwe has become one of the first countries to roll out lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention drug with near-total protection shown in clinical trials. But SBS News reports with community HIV response systems heavily dependent on foreign assistance now being cut, UNAIDS warns the funding gap could lead to 1.4 million new annual infections by 2030, casting doubt on whether scientific promise can translate into broad impact.
Under Trump, US humanitarian aid has become dangerously opaque [World Politics Review] ↳
In the wake of USAID's closure, many are finding it nearly impossible to track which humanitarian programs — like key Sudan governance initiatives — were quietly preserved under the State Department. World Politics Review reports that this growing opacity around U.S. humanitarian spending makes it increasingly difficult to hold the administration accountable or understand the true scope of what has been lost.
US State Dept forms new humanitarian bureau after foreign aid overhaul [Reuters] ↳
The U.S. State Department has established a new Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response — staffed by roughly 200 officials operating across 12 global hubs with approximately $5.4 billion in annual funding — marking the formal conclusion of the Trump administration's overhaul of foreign aid following the dismantling of USAID, according to Reuters.
What US spending on the war in Iran could fund instead [TIME] ↳
The U.S. has already spent at least $12 billion on its war with Iran in just the first two weeks of the conflict — a sum that exceeds the entirety of Trump's cuts to humanitarian aid in his first term, and that critics argue could instead fund nearly three years of U.S. foreign assistance at current levels. TIME breaks down what that spending could have covered.
Weaponizing US foreign aid: Trump’s new 2026 global gag rule [Guttmacher Institute] ↳
The Guttmacher Institute warns that, on top of actions already taken to dismantle USAID and cut international family planning assistance, the sweeping new Global Gag Rule policy threatens to deepen harm to an estimated 50 million women and girls in low- and middle-income countries already denied contraceptive care.
‘We cannot replace USAID, but we can do big things’: conservation plots a future without American money [The Guardian] ↳
Cuts to USAID have eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding for biodiversity protection, forcing conservation programs across dozens of countries to halt operations or shut down entirely, The Guardian reports.
Inside Sierra Leone’s busiest maternity hospital as aid cuts bite [The Daily Nation] ↳
Sierra Leone's Princess Christian Maternity Hospital is running short of basic surgical supplies, as U.S. and U.K. aid cuts threaten to reverse nearly 80% of the progress the country has made in reducing maternal mortality since 2000, according to the Daily Nation. The U.S. cuts represented a $45 million reduction in maternal, child, and adolescent health projects.
Africa after aid [Foreign Affairs] ↳
Contrary to widespread predictions of economic catastrophe following major U.S. and Western aid cuts, many African economies have demonstrated surprising resilience, Foreign Affairs reports.
John Oliver on Trump’s dismantling of USAID: ‘What this administration has done is beyond cruel’ [The Guardian] ↳
On a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took aim at the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID, calling the move morally indefensible and detailing its deadly consequences for vulnerable populations around the world.
Three women, three countries and a global crisis [El Pais] ↳
El País follows three women across three countries to show how the collapse of U.S. foreign aid has hit women and girls hardest, stripping away maternal care, family planning, and gender-based violence protections that their governments had long neglected. The piece underscores a stark milestone: 2025 marked the first year in a quarter century that child mortality rose, a trend researchers link directly to the dismantling of USAID and the elimination of 94% of U.S. funding for sexual and reproductive health.
Foreign aid cuts to tuberculosis services could cost families $80 billion worldwide [Boston University] ↳
A new study published in PLOS Medicine finds that the loss of USAID support alone could generate approximately $7.5 billion in additional tuberculosis-related costs for households in low- and middle-income countries, with four million more families pushed into financial catastrophe.
Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID [The Conversation] ↳
The Trump administration's defunding of USAID halted over 40 drug distribution campaigns in 2025, cutting off treatment for neglected tropical diseases — including river blindness and elephantiasis — and leaving more than 140 million people without access to critical medication.
A year without USAID: In Kenya, the shock reaches herders and hospitals
Drought, debt pressures, and shrinking U.S. aid are converging — exposing strain in Kenya’s pastoralist economies and public health system.
Photo Credit: David Snyder / ZUMA Press via Reuters Connect
In Nepal, US ends effort to help women make life-or-death choices
Pregnant Anita Yadav died after waiting for permission to seek medical care. U.S. aid cuts had already dismantled a nationwide program designed to “break gender norms that undervalued women’s lives.”
Photo Credit: Sunita Neupane / Devex
Why supporting a shelter for women is now 'kind of radioactive' [NPR] ↳
U.S. foreign aid cuts have gutted funding for gender-based violence programs worldwide, with over $400 million in grants eliminated and more than 40% of organizations forced to scale back or shut down entirely, according to NPR.

