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It's something that should have been done a long time ago. Went crazy during the Biden administrative They went totally crazy. What they were doing and the money they were giving to people that shouldn't be getting it into agencies and others that shouldn't be getting it was a shame, tremendous fraud.
America will become great again if they continue to support the poor people, those who are in need of especially the medical care. That's what I think.
Talk to the average American, do they want to see people dying because of assistance cut off? You know, there would have been a very clear and particular way to reform the foreign assistance sector.
This suspension was immediately effectively, so that means if yesterday your employees had to come back the following day to office, you had to stop them because you had no money to continue with them.
At the core of this, this is about an anti rights agenda. This is not about the economics of making countries such as South Africa and other African countries more independent. This is a direct attack on the humanity of LGBTQI, people of women, of girls, of children, and other marginalized groups.
One of President Trump's first actions after taking office was to take aim at USAID, and last week, more than ninety percent of the agency's activities in Africa were told to seize, bringing an end to decades of programs tackling poverty and diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and ebola. In this special episode of The Next Africa Podcast, we hear from our reporters from all corners of the continent about what impact this decision is having and how countries and AID organizations are responding.
The future is uncertain because the government of ken actually announced that they only have stoke for six months, so if they don't do anything right now, it's going to become a public health exhastin.
I'm Jennifer Zabasadja, and this is the Next Africa Podcast, bringing you one story each week from the continent driving the future of global growth with the context only Bloomberg can provide.
We start this week in West Africa.
Over the past decade, the US has provided more than seven point eight billion dollars in aid to Nigeria, supporting everything from agriculture to HIV medication.
But now this may all stop.
The Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tugar gave his reaction to Bloomberg earlier this week.
Nigeria has never been reliant on AID. What we have always sought for is strategic solutions to the issue of risk so that we can partner with countries and mitigate risk. So what we were taking in in terms of development AID is really not that significant and it's being covered.
So what does this mean for Nigeria. Our reporter Nduka or Jinmo is based in a Buja. I started by asking him what USAID actually funded in the country.
When you look across the country, you see the activities of USAID, you know cat across. So you go to some villages in South and Northern Nigeria and then you see potholes that have been built by the USAID. But I think they are most prominent interventions were in health and this could across malaria, tuberculosis and most importantly you know,
walk around HIV and AIDS. Nigeria has the most people living with the condition in western Central Africa, and that funding went along when providing affordable treatment for them, went along, when providing you know, things like the kind of support services that they need. In funding angels that really worked with them. There's an agency in Nigeria that is basically dedicated to work around HI Young AIDS and that agency said ninety percent of their funding over the years came
from USAI. So it just it shows you how immense you know that that contribution was.
But at the same time, and Duka, we've been hearing from some Nigerian officials saying that they've actually budgeted extra money to fill the shortfall that now exists. Is it enough to actually make an impact?
Well, the National Assembly they bought their two undred million dollars to cover what they see, you know, the wholes in the sectors that will be left by the USAID. If that is enough, it's what we don't know what since we begin to implement it. But my first instinct to say it's not likely going to be enough. And because there are several at of the agencies of government that have not really reported to the Bilder Ministry how much of their programs be impacted by the wither of AID.
So I'll give you an example. The Nigeria Bureau Statistics, they do lots of the surveys around the economy. Is that the inflation GDP on employment a chunk of the funding that the gets comes from usa I D. Now it's not a direct funding, so it comes from the don't know agencies that have also received some funding from from usa ID. So I guess these agencies have not really calculated how much they will be losing. But I don't think two d million dollars is going to plug
that hole. But what it means is that Nigeria at least has a fall back option, especially in that's critical sect of health where the government could not afford to let most of those programs in the health sector in all threes because the USCI defund and have been posted well and.
We know from the pandemic.
I mean, you can plug a gap for for so long, right, you don't know what is coming ahead. So what is at risk if some of these programs and if some of these stop gap measures are not actually sustainable.
Lots lots of at risk then and it's it's hard to imagine what the cautions would be. So you're talking about HIV and AIDS and Najeria has never really got a grasp of the situation here where you still have, you know, despite these interventions, you still have you know, cases that keep going up. And then you look at malaria, which is quite endemic here, and then things like tuberculosis that's going to be quite devastating on the population, and all forget a crusier part of this is the role
of proverty in all these situations. Most people who depended on those services provided by US idea, that's that funding where poor people, you know, in the rural areas, and so imagine now they have to provide those drugs for themselves. Imagine also you know that hospitals that the are used of visiting in the neighborhoods shot down because they no
longer have that funding. So those consequences further down the line can be there and unless something is done, I mean in the shape of more funding either from outside ordining drank governments basically redirected morphics resources to to those hosts.
Now and Andreka, you're you're obviously on the ground there. What are people telling you? What are some of the concerns that they're expressing at this point, given how fast things have been moving since we heard aid was being pulled.
I've heard from people working in Manangeria's northeast regions. So this is the area that has been affected by you know, years of fighting insurgency and islam Mist insurgencies in that in that region. So that's Grouno States, that's your base states, parts of Adamara State and that's where you have you know, the bulk of these interventions and heads from people who are working at several UN agencies who've had to you know, close certain departments, who've had to close, setting units, setting
programs that they are they are working on. And someone working in the agricultural sector was saying, look, Nigeria was going.
To face forwarding security this year.
That will lead to millions of people, you know, facing starvation because there was a huge flooding last year that destroyed lots of farmblance in the north and some of these programs from this AID was going to close that hole. And now this has been caught, you know, it's going to get worse.
And you could hear.
The concern, the deep concern in this person's voice. There's no help coming from anywhere, you know, for these, for these and agency, which is quite sad. So you think of people, millions of people you know that have been affected by years of four and the only help that they knew, we know, was it coming in via in all the American people, all that is now gone and there's no immediate help coming to their.
Rescue to East Africa now.
As well as funding health programs, USAID was responding to the civil war in Sudan, funding emergency kitchens across the country which may now need to close. Our reporter Simon Marx is based in Nairobi, and he told me what the immediate impacts of the cuts have been.
Well, well, obviously a number of weeks into the eight cuts that the US government has implemented, and they've been very widespread in impacting a whole range of different health programs from HIV treatment to tuberculosis, to Malay area to vaccine research, to the ability of US officials to engage in the spread of ebola in neighboring Uganda, and all in all, I would say that there are a number of NGOs who get direct funding from the US who
are looking to, you know, find find money from elsewhere. They've they've had their funds frozen and so programs have stopped. As well as that countries like Sudan where there is a famine, terrible famine unfolding in many, many different regions in NGO's soup kitchens that got money from the US, for example, have have stopped all over the country. So it's really aggravated the lives for many.
And Simon, there's been a bit of conflicting news about whether partially some of the aid has returned or not. But if it doesn't in fact return to the levels that we saw before, how are people who you speak to, how are they rec bonding to it.
Yeah, indeed, so as you said that some key sort of life saving funding, there has been news come out that this could come back, that there are indeed waivers. I'm not aware of anything in Kenyawear money's come back initially because people are just freezing while they see the final decision at the end of this ninety day period. If that happens, I think governments are going to have
to shift gears. They're going to have to find money from elsewhere, either inside their own budgets or they're going to have to go looking to other countries to fill the void. And this has drawn out a debate locally about obviously just US influence in general and soft power, the ability of the US to sort of chip in on key areas such as health and education.
You mentioned funding.
Do some of these governments have the capacity in their budgets to fund some of these programs or will they look to external partners, as you say, to do the bulk of to fill the book of the gaps that may exist.
Well, in the case of Kenya, for example, the government has said, you know that this is.
A wake up call.
It's actually also an opportunity for the government to really, I guess, grab the bull by the horns and you know, fund its own health sector more. But the reality is that it's a heavily indebted country. There is a huge amount of annual revenues going out just to paying off interest on debt. We've seen protests recently in Kenya that even managed to storm the National Parliament as a result. So there isn't really much wiggle room for a country
like Kenya. And I think that's just one example, you know, and Keny is one of the more performing economies in the region.
This is a life saving situation and we cannot sit and wait and begin on human life. So for us, it's about the human life, the lives that we need to save, so something needs to be done argently.
And finally, Simon su Dan.
You mentioned that what could this mean for the country if in fact aid does not return in the way that it was there before.
So Dan is obviously at the very sort of bottom of the pyramid in terms of the absolute necessity right for international aid. I think there is a growing famine. The number of regions suffering from famine is growing quarter by quarter, and the US is a massive component of that aid, either through the World With Program or through other NGOs present in the country. So it's a devastating blow.
I think there's a lot of hope right that once certain officials come in Africa, officials related to the State Department come in and start you know, actually talking to regional officials, that maybe some of responding can turn. But you know, Africa is not the biggest focus of the US administration, as other religions that are that are getting more focus at the moment, and so we're still waiting for that to happen.
So it's still it's unclear how this could play out for the Sudanese people at this point.
Yes, unfortunately, you know, one of the one of the really successful organizations to bring food to people in Sudan were this network of suit kitchens and and they've just literally stopped. They were dotted about in rural areas also in Khartoum, the capital, a lot of people who relied on them, you know, thousands and thousands of people.
Stay with us.
When we come back, we'll hear from our Healthcare and Consumer reporter, JENSQ on what the reaction has been from the healthcare community and how they might fill the shortfall.
We'll be right back. Welcome back today.
In a special episode of the Next Africa podcast, we're focusing on the impact of the proposed near total closure of billions of dollars of USAID projects in Africa. JENSQ is our Healthcare and Consumer reporter based in Johannesburg and has been covering this for well over a decade.
I started by asking her what role did USAID play in Africa.
Broadly, it was responsible for development assistance and the programs were wide and varied across thousands of initiatives in public health, disaster relief, socioeconomic developments, environmental protection, democratic governance, and education. Some of the key projects included ones around health research working to PRID solutions to HIV, as well as food and security, which is a big issue on the consonants.
So talk about the impact so far that you've seen from the suspension of some of these programs, Where is it being felt the most.
The recipients of this money have halted work and find stuff, and that abrupt manner has devastating consequences, especially for people living with HIV as well as for other key and vulnerable populations. Desimon two to Health Foundation Chief executive Officer Linda Gail Becker says South Africa stands to lose twenty five years worth of HIV investment if government can't pull the gaps, with more than five hundred thousand HIV related deaths expected to occur over the next decade because of
the terminations. A US funded HIV vaccine file, where South African Medical Research Council had teamed up with scientists from eight countries on the continents, has also stopped because of the USID moves. And you know, from these examples, it's very clear that the impacts is really really wide reaching, and it's not just that the funds aren't there. It's the manner with which it's been done, the abruptness of it that is really key and very very destructive.
So then how concerned are some of these aid and health agencies that you listen to time and time again, how concerned are they about this?
They're very concerned. No one knows where the funding will come from and whether any of it will arrive in time, and it's really quite overwhelming. I mean, when intricate and interlinked programs are halted so abruptly, even if the money comes in from elsewhere, it's hard to restart and build up again, not least because certain programs are only successful if patients actually come into the clinic or the facility
and get their mets. We saw this with COVID nineteen when people were told not to come in, they didn't, and then it really takes time to get people back in. Later, we've seen this sort of the rookly effect of that
with vaccinations across the continent. A lot of vaccination programs, routine vaccination programs for children specifically halted during COVID nineteen because people were told only to come into a hospital clinic, you know, in an emergency effectively, and so these things really do take time to get back up and running. There's also a lot of distress that comes in when
things are halted so abruptly. It takes a lot of work working with people on the ground in communities to build that trust, and when something like this happens, that trust is often destroyed, and so people just to go back to the vaccination programs, reteen vaccination programs for children parents.
It isn't just that you have to make up the backlog because certain shots have been missed at Milestone Ages, but there's also distrust issue and people wonder if it's really necessary and it's just very, very disruptive.
Is that how people on the ground would describe it to you, jen as or are describing it to you.
Disruptive? I mean, what else are they telling you?
Chiotic would be another word.
I mean.
Yvettrafael, who I interviewed last year for a story about HIV and aging, heads up a South African advocacy group for the prevention of HIV and AIDS. She said last week that the Trump administration, according to her organization, has globally declared war on the rights to health in South Africa. Health is a right and there are scores of people who are describing the news of the Holtz's chaos as the organizations have told the bulk of their colleagues, they
no longer have jobs. There are scores of people get who were getting regular mades and already have no supplies for life threatening diseases, and they've got no idea where or when to get more for them. It's quite literally
feels like a death sentence. There was a briefing held last week when the news started flowing through and these emails that come for our region on the African continent, a lot of these emails that come overnight, and people from these various organizations, thousands of them were trying to get onto this briefing. They actually had to give the links to people afterwards because so many people were trying to get on and the people who spoke, many of
them were incredibly emotional. I mean on the verge of tears. It is that devastating for people. It's that real.
So Janice, what is the likelihood we'll see someone else at least try to fill the gaps that USA Ideas now is now leaving Africa.
CDC says that they have had some money come in from Japan and Korea. There is an expectation that the Middle East might step in to some degree. A lot of the billionaires across the globe who have philothropic branches or organizations are trying to see what they can do. But I think even for them it's quite overwhelming the amount of money, at least from the Africa CDC points what's been offered so far from Japan and Korea. They would never say that it's insignificant, because it's not. But
it's really just the top of the iceberg. And so to really fill the gaps fully is going to take a lot of work. Again, these programs didn't happen overnight. This amount of money wasn't one big lump sum at the start of something. It's been incrementally added over years and years, and so it is very difficult to fully fund those gaps, and it's difficult to do it rush. You know, had friends been withdrawn in more ugly mena, but definitely would have been devastating.
And thanks so much to our reporters Nduka or Jinmo, Simon Marx and jenis Q. You can read all of their coverage and reporting on the suspension of USAID programs across Bloomberg platforms now, including the Next African Newsletter.
Will put a link to that in the show notes.
This program was produced by Adrian Bradley and Tiwa Adubayo. Don't forget to follow and review this show wherever you usually get your podcasts.
I'm Jennifer's Abasaja. Thanks as always for listening.