Health Aid: Retreat of the United States
- Yazad Bhacka
- Feb 20
- 3 min read
In a recent spree of executive orders since Inauguration Day, Trump is now looking to target the foreign aid sent out by the United States to curb government spending and reduce the load on the American economy. This decision to send out work-stop orders has had cascading effects on life-saving health campaigns across Asia and Africa as aid workers and UN officials have commented that the order has sparked widespread confusion and the fear of aid not being restored. With no guidance from US officials who are themselves bemused about the order, several questions have been left unanswered, including which programs the Trump administration is looking to exempt from this decision. The 90-day pause being added to all forms of aid threatens to destabilize health programs in Africa, providing everything from mosquito nets to vaccines, leaving several developing countries without their largest single aid donor. Fast-moving decisions have also made officials of the USAID speculate about the dissolution of the agency by the government, which, if done, could have serious consequences for health programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). The only exceptions to the 90-day pause are some key food initiatives and, unsurprisingly, military aid assistance going to Israel and Egypt. While there was no mention of Ukraine, which receives the highest amount from Washington ($59.9bn), in the memo sent out by the Trump administration on foreign aid, there seems to be a deal in exchange for rare earth minerals from Ukraine in the works.
The evolvement of the programs to a mere quid pro quo arrangement by the new administration has struck more profound arguments regarding the validity of the United States as a global actor and the ‘leader of the free world’. A changing outlook of the new administration, which leans more towards an isolationist and the infamous ‘America First’ policy, has further polarised the debate on foreign aid from the Global North. Such retractions from present progressive policies have had a weak response from the side of the Democrats, who seem to be divided with no particular response after the election results in November. Additionally, the rapid passing of such orders has been tearing through the social fabric of America, and reactions from the global order have led to more volatility and a sense of crisis, which does not exist in reality. The flawed concept of the ‘America First’ policy based on which the new administration has been passing executive orders, such as the exit from the WHO and the Paris Agreement (2015), focuses on returning the United States to its past glory. A view of the past that has risen from a populist imagining is set to create divides domestically and alienate the allies of the United States. What lies in the balance? Assistance to Asian and African countries that are battling diseases such as Malaria and AIDS. Shipments of mosquito nets and insecticides, which are needed before the monsoon starts, are already stuck in warehouses, causing a state of crisis in USAID and several sub-saharan states. The state of global health infrastructure across the world looks worse than ever, and circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed some of these cracks. All the Trump administration has done is to worsen these problems for now. Overall, the unpredictability of the Trump administration’s policies is one that scholars will have to closely observe to form broader opinions regarding the status of the United States as a global actor. The more urgent requirement is to look at what the administration does to many aid programs in the 90-day pause period.
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