
'Everything was stopped': USAID cuts hit hard in northern Kenya
In Kenya's largest and poorest county, the despair of a beleaguered hospital director is palpable as he explains that the dismantling of American-funded aid means his facility will run out of USAID drugs next month.
"From then on, I don't know," Ekiru Kidalio said, worried about the lack of treatment for measles and HIV among other things.
Northernmost Turkana county borders Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda and is home to just under a million people, according to a 2019 census, a third of them refugees, many dependent on foreign assistance.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has announced dramatic cuts to USAID whose annual budget was close to $43 billion, more than 40% of the world's humanitarian aid.
The decisions, taken thousands of kilometers away in Washington, are already being felt in Turkana's Lodwar County Referral Hospital, Kidalio, its acting director, said.
USAID employed 64 staff, including nurses and clinical officers, out of around 400 employees at the hospital.
"All those workers were laid off," he said.
"Everything was stopped ... and then the commodities (drugs) were not received," Kidalio added, voicing particular concern over shortages of measles vaccines.
Kidalio said he was "not aware" of any plans by the Kenyan government to tackle the shortfall.
The local governor publicly urged the restoration of USAID-funded programs when U.S. charge d'affaires Marc Dillard visited last week.
The destabilizing shift has also created a lot of concern in the dusty town, dominated by U.N.-emblazoned white landcruisers and signs urging an end to gender-based violence or promoting aid groups.
"There is a lot of worry because the U.S. has ended their support," resident Lydia Muya, 32, told AFP.
The mother-of-three said residents — in a region where roughly 77% of the population live below the poverty line, according to 2021 government statistics — were particularly concerned about their access to medication.
"We see that is now a very big risk to us, because we depend on those medicines, so most of the people will suffer," said Muya.
"It is difficult."
'How will I eat?'
The picture is increasingly grim in Kakuma refugee camp, which hosts more than 300,000 people mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi and Rwanda.
Protests broke out last month after news that rations, already lowered last year, would be further reduced because of the cuts to U.S. foreign aid spending.
"It was tense," said one humanitarian worker, based in Kakuma for almost five years, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not permitted to speak to the media.
When asked if supplies were arriving, his response was blunt: "No. With what money? No funding, no stuff.
"It's operating on hand-to-mouth basis on this point."
He estimated as much as 40% of the workforce had already been laid off as a result of the U.S. cuts.
The situation could still worsen.
The World Food Program (WFP), which supports just under 200,000 Kakuma refugees, said they had cut rations, delivered as food and cash, to 40% of their previous level.
A mother-of-four, who had lived in the camp for almost two decades, said she was worried.
"How many days will I eat? The food can end so fast," she said, asking to remain anonymous as she was unsure if she was allowed to speak to journalists.
She is also worried about the coming rainy season when malaria cases soar.
"If you go now to the hospital there is no medicine, they just check you," she said.
"Trump has stopped everything, and it's closed now, there is nothing coming in and nothing coming out."
Good aid, bad operations?
Aid workers privately say that the situation is not just down to the U.S. cuts and point to a lack of planning by NGOs.
"The camp has been managed as an emergency, so they were not preparing people" to become less dependent on aid, a second aid worker in Kakuma said by telephone.
"If refugees were treated like people not in an emergency set-up anymore ... these fund (shortfalls) could not affect them," he said, suggesting more should have been done on longer-term programs.
The first aid worker also voiced his frustration, saying budgets were eaten up by operational costs such as staffing overheads, transport and bureaucracy.
"The aid, the majority of it goes to the operational bit of it, not the actual work," he said. "It's madness."
Like other aid workers, he worries their program sometimes creates dependency without offering a future.
"As a person who has worked in multiple areas, sometimes you wonder if you are really helping or if you are enabling," he said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
How social media can 'trigger' eating disorders in young people
By Chloé Rabs Social media can push vulnerable young people towards developing eating disorders by glorifying thinness and promoting fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition, experts warn. Young women and girls are much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder, though rates among men have been increasing. Research has shown the percentage of people worldwide who have had some kind of eating disorder during their lives rose from 3.5 percent in 2000 to 7.8 percent in 2018, a timeframe that captures the rise of social media. For the professionals trying to help teenagers recover from these disorders, misinformation from influencers on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram is a huge problem. "We no longer treat an eating disorder without also addressing social media use," French dietitian and nutritionist Carole Copti told AFP. "It has become a trigger, definitely an accelerator and an obstacle to recovery." The causes of eating disorders are complex, with psychological, genetic, environmental and social factors all having the potential to make someone more susceptible. Social media "is not the cause but the straw that may break the camel's back," said Nathalie Godart, a psychiatrist for children and adolescents at the Student Health Foundation of France. By promoting thinness, strictly controlled diets and relentless exercise, social media weakens already vulnerable people and "amplifies the threat" to their health, she told AFP. Just one recent example is the #skinnytok trend, a hashtag on TikTok full of dangerous and guilt-inducing advice encouraging people to drastically reduce how much food they eat. For Charlyne Buigues, a French nurse specializing in eating disorders, social media serves as a gateway to these problems, which are "normalized" online. She condemned videos showing young girls with anorexia exposing their malnourished bodies -- or others with bulimia demonstrating their "purges". "Taking laxatives or vomiting are presented as a perfectly legitimate way to lose weight, when actually they increase the risk of cardiac arrest," Buigues said. Eating disorders can damage the heart, cause infertility and other health problems, and have been linked to suicidal behavior. Anorexia has the highest rate of death of any psychiatric disease, research has found. Eating disorders are also the second leading cause of premature death among 15- to 24-year-olds in France, according to the country's health insurance agency. Social media creates a "vicious cycle," Copti said. "People suffering from eating disorders often have low self-esteem. But by exposing their thinness from having anorexia on social media, they gain followers, views, likes... and this will perpetuate their problems and prolong their denial," she added. This can especially be the case when the content earns money. Buigues spoke of a young woman who regularly records herself throwing up live on TikTok and who had "explained that she was paid by the platform and uses that money to buy groceries". Social media also makes recovering from eating disorders "more difficult, more complicated and take longer", Copti said. This is partly because young people tend to believe the misleading or fake diet advice that proliferates online. Copti said consultations with her patients can feel like she is facing a trial. "I have to constantly justify myself and fight to make them understand that no, it is not possible to have a healthy diet eating only 1,000 calories -- that is half what they need -- or that no, it is not normal to skip meals," she said. "The patients are completely indoctrinated -- and my 45-minute weekly consultation is no match for spending hours every day on TikTok," she added. Godart warned about the rise of people posing as "pseudo-coaches", sharing incorrect, "absurd" and potentially illegal nutrition advice. "These influencers carry far more weight than institutions. We're constantly struggling to get simple messages across about nutrition," she said, pointing out that there are lifelines available for those in need. Buigues takes it upon herself to regularly report problematic content on Instagram, but said it "serves no purpose". "The content remains online and the accounts are rarely suspended -- it's very tiring," she said. The nurse has even advised her patients to delete their social media accounts, particularly TikTok. "It may seem radical but until young people are better informed, the app is too dangerous," she said. © 2025 AFP


NHK
3 days ago
- NHK
UN report: Lack of US funding will cause 4 milion additional AIDS deaths by 2029
The United Nations has warned that a permanent halt in US funding is expected to result in 4 million additional deaths from AIDS-related causes by 2029. The General Assembly met on Thursday to study a UN progress report on the fight against HIV/AIDS. The report says the US has been a leader in the global response to HIV for more than two decades, contributing more than 70 percent of donor funding. But it notes that the administration of US President Donald Trump has paused the contributions since the end of January. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the meeting that the cost of the reduction is stark. She said closures of clinics and other disruptions to HIV services are putting adolescent girls and young women at especially greater risk, and that more babies are being born with HIV. Mohammed said if US funding is permanently halted, the UN projects 4 million additional deaths and over 6 million new HIV infections by 2029. She called on countries to reverse the funding declines, saying they must not allow themselves to "shatter the possibility of achieving the 2030 goal to end AIDS as a public health threat." The UN report says nearly a quarter of the 39.9 million people living with HIV globally are not receiving life-saving treatment. It says one person is dying from HIV-related causes every minute.


Japan Today
3 days ago
- Japan Today
Chronic stress contributes to cognitive decline and dementia risk: What you can do about it
By Jennifer E Graham-Engeland and Martin J Sliwinski The probability of any American having dementia in their lifetime may be far greater than previously thought. For instance, a 2025 study that tracked a large sample of American adults across more than three decades found that their average likelihood of developing dementia between ages 55 to 95 was 42%, and that figure was even higher among women, Black adults and those with genetic risk. Now, a great deal of attention is being paid to how to stave off cognitive decline in the aging population. But what is often missing from this conversation is the role that chronic stress can play in how well people age from a cognitive standpoint, as well as everybody's risk for dementia. We are professors at Penn State in the Center for Healthy Aging, with expertise in health psychology and neuropsychology. We study the pathways by which chronic psychological stress influences the risk of dementia and how it influences the ability to stay healthy as people age. Recent research shows that Americans who are currently middle-aged or older report experiencing more frequent stressful events than previous generations. A key driver behind this increase appears to be rising economic and job insecurity, especially in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession and ongoing shifts in the labor market. Many people stay in the workforce longer due to financial necessity, as Americans are living longer and face greater challenges covering basic expenses in later life. Therefore, it may be more important than ever to understand the pathways by which stress influences cognitive aging. Social isolation and stress Although everyone experiences some stress in daily life, some people experience stress that is more intense, persistent or prolonged. It is this relatively chronic stress that is most consistently linked with poorer health. In a recent review paper, our team summarized how chronic stress is a hidden but powerful factor underlying cognitive aging, or the speed at which your cognitive performance slows down with age. It is hard to overstate the impact of stress on your cognitive health as you age. This is in part because your psychological, behavioral and biological responses to everyday stressful events are closely intertwined, and each can amplify and interact with the other. For instance, living alone can be stressful – particularly for older adults – and being isolated makes it more difficult to live a healthy lifestyle, as well as to detect and get help for signs of cognitive decline. Moreover, stressful experiences – and your reactions to them – can make it harder to sleep well and to engage in other healthy behaviors, like getting enough exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. In turn, insufficient sleep and a lack of physical activity can make it harder to cope with stressful experiences. Stress is often missing from dementia prevention efforts A robust body of research highlights the importance of at least 14 different factors that relate to your risk of Alzheimer's disease, a common and devastating form of dementia and other forms of dementia. Although some of these factors may be outside of your control, such as diabetes or depression, many of these factors involve things that people do, such as physical activity, healthy eating and social engagement. What is less well-recognized is that chronic stress is intimately interwoven with all of these factors that relate to dementia risk. Our work and research by others that we reviewed in our recent paper demonstrate that chronic stress can affect brain function and physiology, influence mood and make it harder to maintain healthy habits. Yet, dementia prevention efforts rarely address stress. Avoiding stressful events and difficult life circumstances is typically not an option. Where and how you live and work plays a major role in how much stress you experience. For example, people with lower incomes, less education or those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods often face more frequent stress and have fewer forms of support – such as nearby clinics, access to healthy food, reliable transportation or safe places to exercise or socialize – to help them manage the challenges of aging As shown in recent work on brain health in rural and underserved communities, these conditions can shape whether people have the chance to stay healthy as they age. Over time, the effects of stress tend to build up, wearing down the body's systems and shaping long-term emotional and social habits. Lifestyle changes to manage stress and lessen dementia risk The good news is that there are multiple things that can be done to slow or prevent dementia, and our review suggests that these can be enhanced if the role of stress is better understood. Whether you are a young, midlife or an older adult, it is not too early or too late to address the implications of stress on brain health and aging. Here are a few ways you can take direct actions to help manage your level of stress: -- Follow lifestyle behaviors that can improve healthy aging. These include: following a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity and getting enough sleep. Even small changes in these domains can make a big difference. -- Prioritize your mental health and well-being to the extent you can. Things as simple as talking about your worries, asking for support from friends and family and going outside regularly can be immensely valuable. -- If your doctor says that you or someone you care about should follow a new health care regimen, or suggests there are signs of cognitive impairment, ask them what support or advice they have for managing related stress. -- If you or a loved one feel socially isolated, consider how small shifts could make a difference. For instance, research suggests that adding just one extra interaction a day – even if it's a text message or a brief phone call – can be helpful, and that even interactions with people you don't know well, such as at a coffee shop or doctor's office, can have meaningful benefits. Walkable neighborhoods, lifelong learning A 2025 study identified stress as one of 17 overlapping factors that affect the odds of developing any brain disease, including stroke, late-life depression and dementia. This work suggests that addressing stress and overlapping issues such as loneliness may have additional health benefits as well. However, not all individuals or families are able to make big changes on their own. Research suggests that community-level and workplace interventions can reduce the risk of dementia. For example, safe and walkable neighborhoods and opportunities for social connection and lifelong learning – such as through community classes and events – have the potential to reduce stress and promote brain health. Importantly, researchers have estimated that even a modest delay in disease onset of Alzheimer's would save hundreds of thousands of dollars for every American affected. Thus, providing incentives to companies who offer stress management resources could ultimately save money as well as help people age more healthfully. In addition, stress related to the stigma around mental health and aging can discourage people from seeking support that would benefit them. Even just thinking about your risk of dementia can be stressful in itself. Things can be done about this, too. For instance, normalizing the use of hearing aids and integrating reports of perceived memory and mental health issues into routine primary care and workplace wellness programs could encourage people to engage with preventive services earlier. Although research on potential biomedical treatments is ongoing and important, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, if interventions aimed at reducing stress were prioritized in guidelines for dementia prevention, the benefits could be far-reaching, resulting in both delayed disease onset and improved quality of life for millions of people. Jennifer E Graham-Engeland is Professor of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State. Martin J Sliwinski is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. External Link © The Conversation