UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said over nine million people in Afghanistan will miss out on health and protection services, cash allocations that helped one million people in Ukraine in 2024 have been suspended while funding for programs for people fleeting Sudan have run out, among other things.
For their part, UN. agencies have been scrambling to revise their operations, make strategic cuts, seek funding elsewhere, and appeal to the administration to restore US support. Some hope federal court rulings will salvage some US foreign aid outlays.
Many independent NGOs too have cited project closures.
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Refugee and migrant agencies
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) told The Associated Press that the pause in US funding has affected operations and its “first cost-saving efforts” will involve cutting $300 million in planned activities.
UNHCR got over 40% of its nearly $5 billion budget last year from the US.
Some of UNHCR’s partner organisations have halted some activities that have led to the suspension of services for nearly 1.8 lakh forcibly displayed women and girls in Central African Republic, Uganda, and South Sudan. In Ethiopia, two lakh forcibly displaced women and girls will also be affected.
“If new funding is not forthcoming soon, more cuts in direct life-saving assistance will be inevitable,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said.
The International Organisation for Migration said it was “acting accordingly” as the US’ order was affecting staff, operations, and beneficiaries. The organisation is run by US’ Amy Pope and got over 40% of its $3.4 billion budget in 2023 from the US.
IOM sent dismissal notices to some 3,000 employees who’d been working on a US resettlement program, news organisation Devex reported last month.
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Health agencies
One of Trump’s first decisions after becoming President was to announce the US’ exit from the World Health Organisation. The agency said the global measles and rubella lab network is “at risk of collapse” as it was entirely funded by the US with $8 million yearly aid.
US’ decision has also affected the global response to mpox and the WHO has begun using its emergency funds to fill gaps left in the Ebola response in Uganda.
The slash in funding will affect tuberculosis response, for which the US contributed $200-$250 million each year.
UN’s AIDS fighting agency said it has closed drop-in centers and service points that provide antiretroviral therapy. It said that about 7.5 lakh Haitians will be hit by the US freeze, and 70% of 181 sites funded by the US had closed.
At a regular briefing Thursday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric highlighted the impact of funding cuts on Afghanistan alone, saying more than 200 health facilities have closed- depriving 18 lakh people of essential health services in the country.
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UN using emergency funds
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is using $110 million from its emergency response fund to help address underfunded crises in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief who heads the office, said he has asked partners to provide lists of areas where they have to cut back due to the funding freeze.
“It is, of course, for individual countries to decide how to spend their money. But it is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face,” Fletcher said.
US funding freeze,UN agencies,health services,foreign aid,humanitarian crises
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