President Trump’s pause on aid, and the gutting of the primary aid agency, could jeopardize the health of more than 20 million people worldwide, including 500,000 children, experts say.

When President Trump froze foreign assistance, he argued the drastic step was needed to eliminate waste and block what he derides as “woke” spending. Experts say the suspension has another, far more serious consequence: emboldening authoritarian strongmen.

Since the inauguration, the incoming Administration has imposed spending freezes and stop-work orders on a wide swath of American foreign-aid enterprises. Funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—which,

HIV clinics have closed. Food aid sits in storage. Classrooms have shut down. Every day that the 90-day aid freeze continues, over 1,000 more people will die of malaria.

Food distribution is being stopped. Health services are being shut down. Lifesaving aid is being tied up, with no way to disburse it. These aren’t warnings of what’s to come, but examples of what aid workers say is the fallout of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and the gutting of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

President Trump’s sweeping spending freeze on U.S. foreign aid has immediate health consequences, writes Gavin Yamey.

The extent of the impacts of the Trump administration’s sudden 90-day freeze of almost all foreign aid is still unclear almost a week on, as officials and aid workers overseas try to make sense of which activities must be suspended.

The billions of dollars that the U.S. spends annually on foreign aid — more than any other nation — includes hundreds of grants for grassroots groups dedicated to fighting for democracy and against corruption.