1.4 cr more people to die by 2030... just because Trump 'killed' aid agency USAID

Bengaluru: June 30 would be a day written in history as the most sombre day for lovers of humanity. Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organisation the US Agency for International Develop- ment (USAID), created by President John F Kennedy as a way of promoting U.S. national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad. As a consolation of sorts, Trump’s US State Department said it would be introducing the department's foreign assistance successor to USAID, to be called America First, shortly.

USA ID over saw programmes around the world, providing water and life-saving food to millions uprooted by conflict in Sudan, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere, sponsoring the Green Revolution that revolutionised modern agricul- ture and curbed starvation and famine, preventing disease outbreaks, promoting democracy, and providing financing and development that allowed countries and people to climb out of poverty.

According to a study published in the Lancet journal, steep funding cuts to the USAID could result in over 1.4 crore preventable deaths by 2030, a third of which could be among children aged under five. Not only that, the fund cuts could reverse decades of progress and that for many low and middle- income countries, the resulting shock would be comparable in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict, the study added.

The researchers also estimated that between 2001 and 2021, more than nine crore deaths in low and middle-in- come countries were prevented because of USAID-supported programmes.

About a third of these were among children. The research by Lancet is the first comprehensive analysis to assess the impact of total USAID funding, including support for health care, nutrition, humanitarian aid, development, education, and related sectors, on mortality rates in low and middle- income countries over the past two decades, the study said.

Amid the USAID supported programmes being discontinued, on a positive note, a four-day financing for development meeting in the southern city of Seville , Spain took off to find a solution to many countries facing escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and in- creasing trade barriers.

The UN and Spain, conference co-hosts at Seville, believe the meeting is an opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, close the staggering USD 4 trillion annual financing gaps to promote development, bring millions of people out of pov- erty and help achieve the UN's wide-ranging and badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, via the Seville Commitment.

Even though the gathering comes amid global economic uncertainty and high geopolitical tensions, there is hope among the hosts that the world can address the most important global challenges ensuring all people have access to food, health care, education and water. It came to light in Seville, that in 2024, 3.3 billion people were living in countries that pay more interest on their debts than they spend on health or education.

This number will increase to 3.4 billion people this year. Shockingly, developing countries will pay USD 947 billion to service debts this year, up from USD 847 billion last year.