Eight people, including five children, have died in South Sudan after walking for three hours under the hot sun to get cholera treatment, They were forced to walk because U.S. aid cuts shut down nearby health clinics. According to Save the Children, a UK-based charity, these deaths are some of the first directly linked to aid cuts made by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The organization said that clinics were closed due to loss of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks,” said Christopher Nyamandi, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan.
US Cuts to Health Funding Led to More Suffering
These aid cuts are part of Trump’s “America First” agenda. As a result, more than 90% of USAID contracts were canceled. Experts say this move could put millions of lives at risk — not just from cholera, but from malnutrition, malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases. The U.S. government claims some aid was misused by corrupt leaders in South Sudan.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said, “While emergency lifesaving programmes continue, we will not, in good conscience, ask the American taxpayer to provide assistance that effectively subsidises the irresponsible and corrupt behaviour of South Sudan’s political leaders.”
Many persons believe that cutting lifesaving aid punishes the poor for the crimes of the powerful. Children, the most vulnerable group, are now dying from diseases that are treatable, simply because they cannot reach help.
Cholera Deaths in South Sudan Raise Alarm on Foreign Aid
In Jonglei State, Save the Children used to support 27 health centres. Now, due to U.S. aid cuts, seven have closed completely and 20 are only partly open. The organization also said U.S.-funded transport services to hospitals were shut down. That’s why the eight patients, including three children under age five, had to walk for hours in 40°C (104°F) heat just to reach help. They didn’t survive.
Save the Children says it will only be able to spend $30 million in South Sudan in 2025, compared to $50 million the year before. Other donors are also cutting their support. These combined cuts are breaking the already fragile healthcare system.
More than one-third of South Sudan’s population of about 12 million have already been displaced by conflict or natural disaster. Now, the country is at risk of sliding into another civil war, after fresh fighting erupted in the northeast in February.
The World Health Organization confirmed that a cholera outbreak was declared last October. Over 22,000 cases have been reported so far, and hundreds of people have died.
US Aid Cuts Blamed as South Sudan Cholera Patients Die Walking to Clinic
The deaths of children and adults in South Sudan highlight the deadly effects of foreign policy decisions made far away. While corruption in South Sudan remains a major issue, cutting off aid has only made life worse for innocent citizens. As US aid cuts gets blamed for these deaths the international community must ask: should political agendas come before human lives?
