Latest news with #aidcuts
Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Times
Women and children ‘will suffer most from overseas aid cuts'
Britain's aid cuts will increase the number of children dying unnecessarily, an official government review has concluded as ministers scale back support to some of the world's poorest countries. An impact assessment carried out by the Foreign Office warned that plans to reduce spending on health projects in Africa would increase disease and ultimately deaths, particularly among women and children. Planned cuts to education spending in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo would have a 'negative impact' on 170,000 children in former conflict zones, the report added. Ministers announced plans to cut the aid budget by five per cent this year as the government reduces spending from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent by 2027. Support for Sudan will fall from £145 million in the last financial year to £120 million this year. Aid to Ethiopia will fall from £314 million to £161 million, and Somalia will lose more than £36 million. Total global spending on health projects will fall from £974 million to £527 million. The budget for humanitarian aid, food security and resilience will also be cut. • Some areas have been protected, however, and their budgets will increase. The BBC World Service 's total budget will rise from £104 million to £137 million. Spending on energy, climate and the environment will rise from £414 million to £656 million. Overall, total government spending on official development assistance will fall from £9.2 billion last year to £8.7 billion this year. These cuts will be much deeper next year: the overseas aid budget falls to £6.8 billion before it is reduced again to £6.1 billion in 2027. Ministers said the cuts meant that Britain would have to support organisations with a 'proven track record of impact'. This is likely to lead to significant cuts to bilateral programmes, where Britain directly supports individual countries. Government sources said they were still working through the implications of next year's cuts, which would result in 'difficult choices'. An impact assessment, published alongside the government's new spending plans, said some programmes would be adversely affected immediately. The cuts will affect aid programmes in Kenya immediately DONWILSON ODHIAMBO/GETTY Among those is the hunger safety net programme in Kenya, which the Foreign Office said would have a negative impact given the 'critical role of social protection for poor, vulnerable and marginalised households and groups'. The budget for the programme to support the ending of preventable deaths will also be cut, which the report said would reduce assistance in 11 countries 'at a time when demand is likely to be high given other funding cuts'. Baroness Chapman, the development minister, said the cuts meant the UK needed to 'modernise our approach to international development'. She said: 'Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities.' Gideon Rabinowitz, the director of policy at Bond, which represents UK aid organisations, said it was clear that the government was 'deprioritising funding for education, gender and countries experiencing humanitarian crises such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia'. He said: 'The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices.'
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
UK's aid cuts ‘will hit children's education and raise risk of death'
Labour's deep aid cuts will hit children's education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according the government's own impact assessment. Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published its 'equality impact assessment' of the policy on Tuesday, as MPs prepared to leave Westminster for the summer recess. Based on spending allocations for the current year, 2025-6, in which the first stage of the cuts has started to be implemented, the analysis paints a stark picture of the potential effects. The government has prioritised spending through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank's development arm, the International Development Association (IDA), and the global vaccines initiative, Gavi. It has also continued to fund humanitarian support. The impact assessment said these and other key decisions had 'protected against disproportionate impacts on equalities'. However, it highlighted the fact that bilateral projects in a string of countries face cuts, including on education and health. 'In Africa, spending is reduced in women's health, health systems strengthening, and health emergency response, eg in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia,' the impact assessment said. As an example, it warns that cuts to the budget of the 'Ending Preventable Deaths Support Programme' will result in the 'reduction and prioritisation' of support across 11 countries. The assessment concludes: 'Overall, any reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children and people with disabilities.' On education, it finds 'in-year reductions to education spend are envisaged in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and in Zimbabwe, and a girls' education programme in DRC will close early in 2025 to 2026'. It adds: 'Adverse impacts on children will be likely, including the most vulnerable and children with disabilities, eg the early closure of the DRC education programme will have negative impacts on 170,000 children in post-conflict rural Kasai.' The impact assessment also pointed out that 11 of the 13 current or future programmes which have been earmarked for closure were 'equalities focused'. The slashing of the UK development assistance budget comes as Donald Trump's administration institutes its own sweeping cuts to US aid, which, among other crushing effects on the world's poorest people, have resulted in abrupt halts to life-saving HIV drug programmes in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The FCDO assessment was published alongside the department's annual report, which set out more details of how the diminished aid budget will be spent. Lisa Wise, director of global policy at Save the Children UK, said: 'The government has confirmed our worst fears – significant reductions in aid spending will result in deaths of the world's most vulnerable, including children.' She welcomed the confirmation that the government will meet its promise of funding to the World Bank, but added: 'International spending must be part of a genuine strategic approach – where the needs of people facing inequality and at risk of crisis are at the heart of development, not one driven by balancing the books.' Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, the umbrella group for development NGOs, said: 'The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices.' He added that the impact assessment only covers the current year, and urged the government to repeat the exercise, as the cuts continue to bite. 'Without this, we only have a very limited picture of what the real impact is going to be on the areas facing the brunt of the cuts,' he said. Lady (Jenny) Chapman, the development minister, said: 'We are modernising our approach to international development. Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities. 'The UK is moving towards a new relationship with developing countries, becoming partners and investors, rather than acting as a traditional aid donor.' She has previously described an aid budget of 0.3% of national income as the 'new normal'. The previous Labour government adopted a target of 0.7% of national income for aid spending, which subsequently won cross-party support – but Rishi Sunak cut it to 0.5% during the Covid pandemic.
Free Malaysia Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Western aid cuts cede ground to China in Southeast Asia
Due to western aid cuts, official development finance to Southeast Asia is projected to fall by more than US$2 billion by 2026. (Bernama pic) SYDNEY : China is set to expand its influence over Southeast Asia's development as the Trump administration and other Western donors slash aid, a study by an Australian think tank said Sunday. The region is in an 'uncertain moment', facing cuts in official development finance from the West as well as 'especially punitive' US trade tariffs, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said. 'Declining Western aid risks ceding a greater role to China, though other Asian donors will also gain in importance,' it said. Total official development finance to Southeast Asia – including grants, low-rate loans and other loans – grew 'modestly' to US$29 billion in 2023, the annual report said. But US President Donald Trump has since halted about US$60 billion in development assistance – most of the US overseas aid programme. Seven European countries – including France and Germany – and the EU have announced US$17.2 billion in aid cuts to be implemented between 2025 and 2029, it said. And the UK has said it is reducing annual aid by US$7.6 billion, redirecting government money towards defence. Based on recent announcements, overall official development finance to Southeast Asia will fall by more than US$2 billion by 2026, the study projected. 'These cuts will hit Southeast Asia hard,' it said. 'Poorer countries and social sector priorities such as health, education, and civil society support that rely on bilateral aid funding are likely to lose out the most.' Higher-income countries already capture most of the region's official development finance, said the institute's Southeast Asia Aid Map report. Poorer countries such as East Timor, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are being left behind, creating a deepening divide that could undermine long-term stability, equity and resilience, it warned. Despite substantial economic development across most of Southeast Asia, around 86 million people still live on less than US$3.65 a day, it said. 'Global concern' 'The centre of gravity in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing but also Tokyo and Seoul,' the study said. As trade ties with the US have weakened, Southeast Asian countries' development options could shrink, it said, leaving them with less leverage to negotiate favourable terms with Beijing. 'China's relative importance as a development actor in the region will rise as Western development support recedes,' it said. Beijing's development finance to the region rose by US$1.6 billion to US$4.9 billion in 2023 – mostly through big infrastructure projects such as rail links in Indonesia and Malaysia, the report said. At the same time, China's infrastructure commitments to Southeast Asia surged fourfold to almost US$10 billion, largely due to the revival of the Kyaukphyu Deep Sea Port project in Myanmar. By contrast, Western alternative infrastructure projects had failed to materialise in recent years, the study said. 'Similarly, Western promises to support the region's clean energy transition have yet to translate into more projects on the ground – of global concern given coal-dependent Southeast Asia is a major source of rapidly growing carbon emissions.'
Arab News
18-07-2025
- Health
- Arab News
UN: Over 11 million refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts
GENEVA: Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday. That corresponds to a full third of the number reached last year by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. In a new report, the agency highlighted a deadly confluence of factors pummeling millions of refugees and displaced people globally: 'rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy.' 'We are right now facing a deadly cocktail,' UNHCR's head of external relations, Dominique Hyde, told reporters in Geneva. 'We are incredibly concerned for refugees and displaced populations around the world.' Dramatic aid cuts by the United States and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organizations facing gaping shortfalls. UNHCR has said it needs $10.6 billion to assist the world's refugees this year, but so far it has received just 23 percent of that amount. As a result, the agency said it was seeing $1.4 billion of essential programs being cut or put on hold. The impact, Hyde cautioned, risks being that 'up to 11.6 million refugees and people forced to flee are losing access to humanitarian assistance provided by UNHCR.' The agency said families were being forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines and paying rent. Malnutrition is especially severe for refugees fleeing war-ravaged Sudan, where the UN has been forced to reduce food rations and nutrition screening, she said, decrying the 'devastating impact for children who have fled to Chad.' The cuts have also forced UNHCR to pause the movement of new arrivals from border areas to safer locations in Chad and South Sudan, 'leaving thousands stranded in remote locations,' the agency said. Health and education services for refugees are also being scaled back worldwide. In camps in Bangladesh hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, education programs for some 230,000 children risk being suspended. UNHCR also said its entire health program in Lebanon was at risk of being shuttered by the end of the year. Funding for aid programs is not the only issue. Last month, UNHCR announced it would need to cut 3,500 staff – nearly a third of its workforce worldwide – amid the budget shortfall.
France 24
16-07-2025
- Health
- France 24
Global health aid sinks to 15-year low in 'era of austerity'
Money that provides healthcare to some of the poorest and most in-need people across the world has been dramatically slashed this year, led by the administration of US President Donald Trump. The new study published in the prestigious Lancet journal also pointed to recent steep aid cuts announced by the UK, France and Germany. After reaching an all-time high of $80 billion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the total amount of global health aid will sink to $39 billion this year, the US-led team of researchers estimated. That would be the lowest level since 2009. Such a dramatic change will result in the world entering a new "era of global health austerity", the authors of the study warned. Sub-Saharan African countries such as Somalia, the war-torn Democratic of Congo and Malawi will be hit worst because most of their health funding currently comes from international aid, according to the study. The funding cuts will have a major impact on the treatment and prevention of a range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, it added The US slashed its global health funding by at least 67 percent in 2025 compared to last year, according to the research. The UK cut its funding by nearly 40 percent, following by France with 33 percent and Germany with 12 percent. The researchers at the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation called for the world to urgently ramp up health aid. They also warned that nations would likely need find other sources of funding. The study was released as AIDS experts meet in Rwanda's capital Kigali for an international conference on HIV science. The US foreign aid cuts alone are estimated to result in the preventable deaths of more than 14 million people by 2030, according to a different Lancet study published earlier this month.
