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approximately 200,000 More children under the age of five are expected to die worldwide this year compared to 2024 – for the first time in this century – after unprecedented Cut in international aid from countries including America,
A report by the Gates Foundation estimates there will be 4.8 million by the end of 2025 death of childrenCompared to 4.6 million last year. Until now, deaths among children under five had been falling every year worldwide since 2000, when the death toll topped 10 million.
The biggest global aid cut so far has come from the US. When? donald trump After taking office again in January, he canceled all foreign aid spending overnight.
Although some of that cut funding has been turned back on, the disruption has been “absolutely” due to which people lost their lives“, the foundation said.
Bill GatesPresident of the Foundation, said: “There is something particularly devastating about a child dying from a disease we know how to prevent. For decades, the world has made steady progress in saving children’s lives. But now, as the challenges continue to mount, that progress is being reversed.
“This means more than 5,000 classrooms of children were lost before they learned how to write their names or tie their shoes.”
Gates Foundation – which supports Independent‘S Rethinking global aid Project – The report was compiled in partnership with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
The report warns that if funding for health is reduced by 20 percent, in line with cuts proposed by many countries, 12 million more children could die by 2045.
“Sadly, this year is almost certain to be the first year this century where it not only stops, but reverses,” said Mark Susman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. Independent,
“By far, the largest single cause of death is cuts in international aidWhen you step back on short notice, there are consequences, and sadly, these are the consequences human life is measured in,
“Those 200,000 additional children who will die from preventable causes are essentially a direct line of those funding cuts.”
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While the cuts in international aid began with the US at the beginning of the year, they have since spread to other major donors such as Britain and Germany. Overall, global development assistance for health is expected to decline by more than 27% this year compared to 2024, the report said.
In July this year, Democrats opposing foreign aid cuts by the Trump administration argued that the move would damage America’s standing in the world and create a void for China to fill.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii described the cost of saving a starving child or preventing the transmission of diseases as “trivial.” and said Trump’s cuts to foreign aid programs through the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were having life-and-death consequences around the world.
“People are dying right now, not in spite of us but because of us,” Schatz said in July. “We are causing death.”
In the same month it emerged that 500 tonnes of high-energy biscuits were intended to feed 27,000 hungry children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. will be incinerated Due to the Trump administration’s decision to close the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Democrat Senator Tim Kaine said lawmakers had specifically warned the government before the food ran out and demanded it be distributed.
“Who decides, no, we’ll keep the warehouse closed, let the food expire, and then burn it?” he asked at that time.
US funding for global health remains two-thirds below where it was in 2024, with one impact putting thousands of lives at risk More children are dying from malaria,
Suzman calls on rich countries to finance the most effective tools vaccines and bed nets, “which represent a small share of their national budgets but have a disproportionate impact in terms of saving lives in low- and middle-income countries”.
,Vaccines remain the most transformative tool In global health, this is why we are working Vaccines for tuberculosis (TB)For malaria, for hivBecause if they’re successful, they could be transformative,” Suzman said. But, he added, “If I had to pick one, I would pick one malaria vaccine”.
malaria It is the biggest killer of children in the world, accounting for more than three-quarters of the 600,000 who die from the disease each year. relatively new vaccines have proven that it is possible to vaccinate against the disease, but they provide only moderate protection that wanes quickly. Trials are underway to find more effective and longer-lasting ways of preventing the deadly parasite.
The Gates report also found that less than $100 per person per year to strengthen health care systems could prevent up to 90 percent of the burden. death of childrenWhile every dollar spent vaccines Returns $54 to countries.
The US has also withdrawn from the international vaccine alliance Gavi under the Trump administration – despite previously being one of its biggest financial supporters. Since 2000, Gavi has helped vaccinate 1.2 million children worldwide and is said to have prevented more than 20 million deaths.
In June, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the halt of funding in a video message. He urged Gavi to “re-earn public trust and justify the $8 billion in funding provided by the US since 2001,” Reuters informed,
The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget goes further, calling for closing the global health division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move that would destroy key vaccination programs targeting polio, measles and other infectious diseases.
This article was produced as part of The IndependentRethinking global aid Project