Nigeria and several other African countries have shut down numerous clinics previously funded by USAID, following recent budget cuts initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In Nigeria’s conflict-hit Borno state, clinics that once treated up to 300 patients daily have abruptly closed, according to Adamu Ibrahim, a nurse laid off due to the funding cuts, along with other affected workers. “The clinics have been closed and there are no more free drugs or mosquito nets,” Ibrahim told AFP.
The swift scale-back of USAID—the U.S. government’s primary foreign aid agency—is destabilising health systems across Africa. These systems were built on fragile networks involving national ministries of health, nonprofits, private entities, and international aid.
The ripple effects are already being felt. With malaria season approaching, the threat of rising infections looms large. Further reductions in U.S. global vaccine funding are expected to have even more severe consequences later in the year.
Malnutrition clinics have closed across Nigeria, while drug supply chains in Mali are disrupted, putting medicine at risk of being trapped in warehouses. In South Sudan, children are walking long distances for cholera treatment—some dying on the way—while Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp faces severe shortages and unrest.
“People with resources will manage. But the poorest of the poor, especially in remote areas, will be cut off,” said Lawrence Barat, a former senior advisor for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. “They’re the ones whose children will die.”
In Mali, malaria prevention drugs are still arriving, but Singh warns that without U.S. funds, coordinating their distribution becomes a major challenge. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the PMI had been the main supplier of malaria drugs and tests in nine provinces. With no clear backup, Singh and her colleagues are scrambling to identify the growing gaps.
In South Sudan, five children reportedly died while seeking treatment for cholera after clinics funded by USAID shut down. In Kenya’s Kakuma camp, home to over 300,000 refugees, March protests erupted as food rations were cut and doctors ran low on medication. “You can get paracetamol, but all other drugs are gone,” a local elder told AFP.
Meanwhile, in Kinshasa’s Kinkole General Hospital, 23 mpox patients are being treated free of charge, thanks to U.S. support. But with 16,000 infections and 1,600 deaths reported, staff fear the aid will soon run dry.
“We’re thinking a disaster is coming,” said epidemiologist Yvonne Walo.
