#usaid

#usaid

For the first time this century, the report finds, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday is projected to rise. Modeling conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) reveals alarming statistics: In 2024, 4.6 million children died before turning five. In 2025, that number is projected to increase by just over 200,000, reaching an estimated 4.8 million children globally.

Multiple groups launched fundraisers in February and eventually, these emergency funds mobilized more than $125 million within eight months, a sum that while not nearly enough, was more than the organizers had ever imagined possible. In those early days, even with needs piling up, wealthy donors and private foundations grappled with how to respond. Of the thousands of programs the U.S. funded abroad, which ones could be saved and which would have the biggest impact if they continued?

For decades, USAID was one of the greatest tools America had to promote democratic values in Russia. The agency extended humanitarian assistance while fostering political reform, and in doing so endeared the United States to Russians even as it undercut the Kremlin's authoritarian ambitions. It was a supreme example of soft power: working "through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion," as the political scientist Joseph S. Nye Jr. defined the term.

A Post analysis of internal data from the first half of the year shows that supplies valued at more than $190 million were scheduled to arrive at distribution warehouses by the end of June. Instead, the analysis found, shipments worth nearly $76 million were not delivered, including the majority of medication needed to combat severe malaria. Some medicines never left the places where they were manufactured, and others were stranded in ports or customs facilities near the cities and villages where they were needed.

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.

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

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.