Ethiopia was the largest recipient of US aid assistance in sub-Saharan Africa before Donald Trump froze funding last month. From food and health to support for refugees and sexual abuse survivors, we examine the impact of a decision that has left aid organisations scrambling. A vast shipment of food stranded in containers risks rotting before it reaches millions of hungry people. Deliveries of life-saving medicines to remote rural clinics are paused.
And thousands of HIV patients and sexual violence survivors are abruptly cut off from support. Most of this money went on emergency humanitarian aid, from bags of grain, medications and high-energy biscuits for malnourished children, to water and tents for displaced people. Nearly 16 million Ethiopians relied on donated grain in and half its children were malnourished, as the country dealt with climate change shocks and civil strife.
Most of this is bought directly from American farmers and shipped to Ethiopia via Djibouti, in bags stamped with the American flag. In , the number of people targeted for food assistance has been reduced to 5 million. This is partly because needs have lessened, but also because shortages have forced aid groups to cut back on assistance for all but the most needy.
Humanitarian officials fear the USAid freeze could deepen this funding crisis even further. These have now resumed. This is already having an impact. Currently, 34, metric tonnes of sorghum, pulses and vegetable oil β enough to feed 2. These funds go to the ministry of health, which then distributes them to regional health bureaus.
USAid also funds projects by aid agencies that tackle infectious diseases and malnutrition. Malaria cases surged from , in to 7. Measles rose from just 1, cases in to 28, last year. USAid funds went towards disease surveillance, treating fistulas, preventing malaria, funding cold storage units for medicines, reducing child and maternal health, and buying basic items like surgical gloves. Many of these activities have been stopped.
