We’re witnessing the largest contraction in humanitarian assistance in history. Earlier this year, the United States abruptly shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which distributed over $38 billion in aid in 2023 alone — which was less than 1% of the U.S. budget. European donors also have cut their foreign aid amid domestic pressures.
The cuts are happening even as many recipient countries, strapped with debt to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, spend more on repayments than on health and education for their people.
We have now reached the point where a private entity, the Gates Foundation, is the largest funder of the World Health Organization, effectively privatizing global health governance.
According to the U.N.’s latest Hunger Hotspots report, five places face the gravest risk of catastrophic hunger: Sudan, Palestine (Gaza Strip), South Sudan, Haiti and Mali. The report underscores a severe funding shortfall for addressing violent conflicts and food insecurity in these and other hotspots worldwide.
With 75% of humanitarian funding coming from just four donors (United States, EU institutions, Germany and the UK), and half of that from the United States, cuts to U.S. foreign assistance reverberate across the entire world.
The human cost is staggering. Experts estimate 16.8 million pregnant women may lose access to essential services, 1 million children with severe malnutrition may go untreated, and we could see 12 million to 18 million more cases of malaria each year.
These funding cuts translate directly into human suffering — measurable increases in death rates from decisions made in donor capitals.
Proponents of cutting foreign aid argue that U.S. humanitarian aid and development programs do not make the United States safer, stronger and more prosperous — the three criteria named by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the outset of the second Trump administration. This perspective, however, overlooks a key fact: Foreign aid is not charity, but a strategic investment in justice, human dignity, global solidarity, stability and, by extension, U.S. security and prosperity.
Foreign aid plays a critical role in preventing conflicts that could ultimately threaten U.S. national security. By addressing the root causes of extremism and poverty such as lack of education, access to healthcare and economic opportunity, it helps to build more stable and resilient societies.
Foreign aid fosters goodwill, creating a network of allies that can collaborate on global challenges, from combating pandemics to countering terrorism. A strong, stable world enhances trade relationships and ensures a more secure global economy, which directly benefits American prosperity. Cutting aid severs these vital ties, ceding influence to rivals and undermining the very long-term security and economic interests it purports to protect.
Susan Gunn is director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Feature Image: Rohingya children eat from a jar with the USAID logo at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Feb. 11, 2025. (OSV News/Ro Yassin Abdumonab/Reuters/Bangladesh)
FAITH IN ACTION:
• Read Pope Leo’s message for the ninth World Day of the Poor on Nov. 16, in which the Holy Father says helping the poor is “a matter of justice before it is a question of charity.” https://bit.ly/WorldDayPoor2025
• Ask Congress to protect lifesaving aid using this tool created by Catholic Relief Services. https://www.crs.org/ways-to-help/advocate/take-action
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, based in Washington, D.C., is a resource for Maryknoll on matters of peace, social justice and integrity of creation, and brings Maryknoll’s mission experience into U.S. policy discussions. Phone (202) 832-1780, visit www.maryknollogc.org or email ogc@maryknollogc.org.
