‘Time to scale up': Over 14 million people could die due to slashing of US aid cuts, study reveals
By 2030, more than 14 million people, including 4.5 million children under the age of five could die as a result of massive cuts to US foreign aid, according to a new study published in 'The Lancet' reported AFP.
The study, released alongside a United Nations conference in Spain, warns that the rollback of humanitarian funding initiated under Donald Trump could erase two decades of health gains in the world's most vulnerable regions.
The study was published as world and business leaders across the globe gathered in Spain for a United Nations conference on Tuesday.
The cuts in funding can reverse back or even halt 'two decades of health among vulnerable population' said David Rasella, a researcher at the Barcelona Institue for Global Health (ISGlobal), who co-authored the study.
"For many low- and middle-income countries, the resulting shock would be comparable in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict," warned Rasella in a statement.
"Now is the time to scale up, not scale back," Rasella said.
The international team of researchers gathered data from over 133 nations and assessed that between 2001 and 2021 USAID funding had prevented 91.8 million deaths in developing countries.
That figure exceeds the projected death toll of World War II, the deadliest conflict in human history.
Until Donald Trump took office in January, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had provided for 40 percent of global humanitarian funding. Two weeks later, Elon Musk, then a close advisor to Trump and the world's richest man, claimed he had run the agency 'through the woodchipper.'
Researchers also projected how the funding, which has been announced to be slashed by 83 percent, could lead to more than 14 million avoidable deaths by 2030.
This figure includes 4.5 million children under the age of five, amounting to 700,000 child deaths a year.
Researchers found that programmes funded by USAID were associated with a 15% overall reduction in mortality. Among children under five, a steep 32% drop was witnessed. The funding proved especially effective in preventing deaths from treatable and avoidable diseases.
The aid also helped in combating diseases such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, as per the study's co-author Francisco Saute from Mozambique's Manhica Health Research Centre.
"Cutting this funding now not only puts lives at risk, it also undermines critical infrastructure that has taken decades to build," asserted Saute.
An updated tracker by Boston University disease modeller Brooke Nichols estimates that US aid cuts have already resulted in the deaths of nearly 108,000 adults and more than 224,000 children, a toll equivalent to 88 deaths every hour.
Major donors like France, Germany and the UK also decided to slash their foreign aid and budgets after the USAID was gutted.
"US citizens contribute about 17 cents per day to USAID, around $64 per year," said co-author James Macinko of the University of California.
Despite the grim projection, researchers have assured that if support is provided, the situation could improve quickly.
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