#usaid

#usaid

Fever ravaged the body of 5-year-old Suza Kenyaba as she sweated and shivered on a thin mattress in a two-room clinic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The pigtailed girl who liked pretty dresses was battling malaria and desperately needed medication that could save her life. That medication, already purchased by a U.S.-taxpayer-funded program, was tantalizingly close - a little more than seven miles away.

When it comes to hunger, Gaza is currently at the top of the pyramid: the UN has confirmed that half a million people are on the brink of death from starvation, something that has only happened three times in the last two decades and never for reasons strictly linked to political decisions. Beyond the horror provoked by witnessing the famine caused by the Israeli blockade of food supplies, 295 million people worldwide are threatened by hunger.

Since starting First Light, former colleagues have reached out with connections to coffee-growing communities, and I'm excited to build on that,

The first alarm was raised at the end of July: several humanitarian and family planning NGOs denounced the Trump administration's intention to imminently destroy a major shipment of contraceptives. USAID, the U.S. aid agency, was storing them in Belgium, awaiting distribution to humanitarian missions, mostly in Africa. The operation, along with the contraceptives, was left in limbo when the U.S. government decided to dismantle its well-regarded development agency a move that, according to the scientific journal The Lancet, could lead to as many as 14 million preventable deaths by 2030.

A top US Department of State official waived nine mandatory counterterrorism and anti-fraud safeguards to rush a $30m award to a controversial Gaza aid group despite concerns.

While the White House may be celebrating its diplomatic triumph in brokering a peace deal between tense neighbours DRC and Rwanda, for sceptical observers and people caught up in conflict and deprivation in eastern DRC, the mood is bound to be far more muted. "I think a lot of ordinary citizens are hardly moved by the deal and many will wait to see if there are any positives to come out of it," said Michael Odhiambo, a peace expert for Eirene International in Uvira in eastern DRC.

A study published in the Lancet found the cuts could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, with a third of those among children.

"As Elon Musk took a chainsaw to USAID and you proposed cutting 83% of foreign programs, China has proposed increasing its diplomatic budget by 8.4%..."

"I felt like I finally made it," Burnett said, reflecting on her career trajectory and excitement about finally reaching a milestone after 13 years of hard work.

The Trump administration will no longer collect government-issued devices from terminated USAID employees, leaving them responsible for disposal of sensitive equipment.

Word of Marocco's firing quickly tore through the Republican Party and MAGA ecosystem, startling President Donald Trump's loyalists who viewed the aide as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers.

The scholarship program, critical for girls' education in Afghanistan, now faces uncertain future due to a recent USAID decision that affects funding and priorities.