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There is a tendency to talk about foreign aid cuts primarily as a political concern. But Donald Trump’s chainsaw approach to U.S. assistance – and accompanying reductions in overseas aid announced by countries including the U.K., France, Germany and the Netherlands – will have real-life consequences felt by ordinary people around the world.
Take HIV awareness, prevention and treatment. Due to a global campaign and, largely, American money, new HIV infections have dropped by 39% since 2010 and deaths are down by half. That success is now in jeopardy due to the slashing of overseas aid.
To find out just how badly the fight against HIV will be affected, a trio of researchers from Australia’s Burnet Institute modeled how funding cuts would impact 26 low- and middle-income nations. “We estimated there could be 4.43 million to 10.75 million additional HIV infections between 2025 and 2030, and 770,000 to 2.93 million extra HIV-related deaths,” they write. “Most of these would be because of cuts to treatment. For children, there could be up to an
additional 882,400 infections and 119,000 deaths.”
HIV infections and deaths is only one way that the cuts will be felt in nations around the world. Tharaphi Than, an expert on political dissent in Myanmar, explores how U.S. cuts in support to Myanmar through the gutting of USAID and the BURMA Act is impacting that country’s ongoing civil war. “Services such as Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have been suspended amid the recent U.S. cutbacks. As a result, people in Myanmar have more-limited access to
reliable information and, more importantly, fewer media to represent and amplify their voices,” she writes. Other U.S. policy decisions are affecting the yearslong conflict in Myanmar, too. Trump’s embrace of Russia – one of the few allies of Myanmar’s
military – could work against the various ethnic groups and pro-democracy parties by giving the coupist generals a voice of support on the international stage. All of this may play into the hands of Beijing, which has been keen to use its economic influence to stabilize it’s southern neighbor. Resistance groups, starved of U.S. support, might be “under greater urgency to accept China’s role as a mediator” and agree to a negotiated solution to the conflict, argues Than.
Elsewhere this week, we have been tracking the fallout of the Signal group chat security breach in the U.S. and explaining the significance of the latest developments in Sudan’s civil war.
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Rowan Martin-Hughes, Burnet Institute; Debra ten Brink, Burnet Institute; Nick Scott, Burnet Institute
A new modelling study has sought to find out what impact recent foreign aid cuts – particularly from the US – will have on HIV. Here’s what the researchers found.
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Myanmar’s civil war involves a range of different ethnic groups fighting the military.
Thierry Falise/LightRocket via Getty Images
Tharaphi Than, Northern Illinois University
US cuts in overseas aid will hurt the myriad opposition groups that have been fighting the army in a complex and regionalized conflict.
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petrugusa94/Shutterstock
Gemma Ware, The Conversation
From sails, to route optimisation and alternative fules, Daniel Precioso and Alice Larkin talk to The Conversation Weekly podcast about strategies to reduce emissions from global shipping.
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Serena Williams emcee’s the ESPY awards on July 11, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Treisha Hylton, Wilfrid Laurier University
Williams’ ownership stake in the Toronto Tempo signals a major step forward for women’s professional sports.
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Pandanus Petter, Australian National University
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Robert Dover, University of Hull
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Colin Flint, Utah State University
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Christopher Tounsel, University of Washington
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have died during the 3-year conflict, with more than 14 million displaced.
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Anastasiya Zavyalova, Rice University; Christopher A. Hartwell, ZHAW School of Management and Law
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Callie Maddox, Miami University
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Stephan Blum, University of Tübingen
Based on organic residues – imperceptible to the naked eye and detectable only at a molecular level – bronze age wine consumption must be fundamentally reconsidered.
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