'Big setback': US aid halt disrupts global nutrition plans, disease trials

Washington, DC — In a small village of southwest Bangladesh, Ayesha Rahman, a 32-year-old mother of three, had spent years struggling to feed her children.

Malnutrition was a quiet crisis, gnawing away at the youngest, the pregnant, and the adolescent girls in one of the world's most densely populated nations. Clean water was scarce, sanitation barely adequate. The cycle of poor health and poverty felt endless.

Then came a flicker of hope — the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). America's key global humanitarian agency offered technical support to local health workers, empowered women with economic opportunities, and promoted hygiene and sanitation to break the cycle of malnutrition.

Under the Feed the Future Bangladesh Nutrition Activity, USAID allocated $7 million for nutritional development, part of its broader $400 million commitment to Bangladesh in fiscal year 2023.

For the first time, Ayesha saw change. Her children had better access to nutritious food. But last month, without a warning, the funding was gone.

An executive order from the Trump administration on January 20, 2025, froze all US foreign aid, abruptly halting projects like the one that had given Ayesha and many others a fighting chance.

The US government said it was globally shuttering all 80 USAID field missions and downsizing its staff, bringing an halt to its on-the-ground aid operations worldwide.

The impact was immediate. Clinics lost resources, outreach workers were sidelined, and communities were left to fend for themselves.

"The sudden freeze on USAID funding has been met with a mixture of frustration, bewilderment, and, of course, huge anxiety around the world," Peter Taylor, Director of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, told TRT World.

"The US has been by far the largest international aid donor. A sudden stop order on US-funded activities has had an immediate negative impact on critical humanitarian and development work. It's affecting the most vulnerable — children, those with disabilities, people with health challenges."

A state of limbo

Some 3,000 kms from Bangladesh, in a modest community centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, teachers, healthcare workers, and parents were coming together to give children a better start in life.

They believed that investing early could change everything — that breaking the cycle of poverty began with education, nutrition, and care from the very beginning.

But the financial support that had kept programmes like "Connect Phum 5" project under Future Forum alive were suddenly ripped away with Trump's order. Training sessions were cancelled, community-building initiatives were gutted, and tools meant to help children develop never arrived.

In Africa's Malawi, a clinical trial on cervical cancer that holds the promise of saving countless lives has been unexpectedly paused. In South Africa, efforts to treat children battling tuberculosis have fallen into limbo. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, the vital nutritional support for vulnerable communities has been disrupted.

"This is terrible timing for the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda," said Taylor.

"The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to track and prevent the spread of the disease. Cutting off funding at this moment could have severe consequences for global health security — which affects us all."

Screen-and-treat method in Malawi

USAID's support for the cancer "screen-and-treat" programme has been a game changer in Malawi.

Trained healthcare workers use acetic acid to spot early signs of cervical cancer and then immediately treat any abnormal cells with cryotherapy or thermocoagulation. This swift intervention has been especially crucial for HIV-positive women in the East African nation, who face a much higher risk.

Yet, the recent halt in trial activities due to the USAID funding freeze and the looming uncertainty around future funding have raised serious concerns.

"At district hospitals in Malawi, cervical cancer screening and treatment currently remains free for all women. If no alternative funding is secured, this would be a big setback and a disruption that eventually leaves countless women without timely care that has proven so effective in combating cancer," Dr Lillian Banda, a public health specialist working in Mawali, told TRT World.

"USAID's steady investment has been key to ensuring timely care in our communities and halting this funding now risks undoing years of clinical progress, leaving vulnerable women in Malawi without access to the life-saving screening they need."

"We are likely to see a rise in preventable cervical cancer cases that could have been treated early on," Dr Banda warned.

Pause on follow-up care

For researchers and aid workers, the decision was more than a financial setback — it was a moral and professional crisis. Years of work had gone into these projects. Now, they found themselves in a bureaucratic no-man's land, caught between policy decisions and the lives they were trying to improve.

Taylor shared a recent example: "Our colleagues were conducting a workshop in India, working with communities to improve sanitation and access to clean water. The participants had travelled long distances, giving up their daily routines to be there.

"Then, in the middle of the project, they received a stop order. Everything had to cease immediately. The frustration was immense. People who had invested their time and hope were sent home, their needs unmet."

Meanwhile, the largest US government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers have sued the Trump administration for its actions against USAID.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, Federal Court by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association last week seeks an order blocking what it says are "unconstitutional and illegal actions" that have created a "global humanitarian crisis."

Taylor, whose expertise lies in global research partnerships, noted, "The US has historically played a stabilising role by providing aid and supporting access to crucial resources — vaccines, medicines, sanitation, clean water, and nutrition. These are the foundations of a healthier, more stable world."

He paused before adding, "We look to the US to find its way back to that leadership before irrevocable damage is done."