Eight people, including five children, have died during a three-hour trek in extreme heat to obtain cholera treatment in South Sudan. The deaths occurred after local health services were forced to shut down due to aid cuts imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Three of the children were under the age of five, according to reports.
The UK-based charity Save the Children said the deaths, which took place last month, are among the first directly linked to the cuts. Trump stated that the reductions, which began after he assumed office on January 20, were implemented to ensure grants aligned with his “America First” agenda.
“There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks,” said Christopher Nyamandi, Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan.
Experts have warned that the cuts – including the cancellation of more than 90% of USAID’s contracts – could cost millions of lives in the coming years due to malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
“While emergency lifesaving programmes continue, we will not, in good conscience, ask the American taxpayer to provide assistance that effectively subsidises the irresponsible and corrupt behaviour of South Sudan’s political leaders,” the spokesperson said.
South Sudan’s government has in the past acknowledged a significant amount of public corruption but denied specific accusations of graft, including against President Salva Kiir’s family.
Humanitarian aid to the country is often channelled through non-governmental organisations, largely because of corruption concerns.
Save the Children supported 27 health facilities in eastern South Sudan’s Jonglei State until earlier this year when the US cuts forced seven to shut completely and 20 to close partially, the organisation said in a statement.
US funded transport services to take people to hospital in the main local town also stopped for lack of funds, which meant the eight cholera patients had to walk in nearly 40C heat to seek treatment at the nearest health facility, it said.
Besides the US cuts, more gradual reductions by other donors have strained the humanitarian response in South Sudan. Save the Children expects to spend $30 million in the country in 2025, down from $50 million last year, Nyamandi said.
Over a third of South Sudan’s roughly 12 million people have been displaced by either conflict or natural disaster, and the United Nations says the country could be on the brink of a new civil war after fighting broke out in February in the northeast.
A cholera outbreak was declared last October. More than 22,000 cases had been recorded as of last month, causing hundreds of deaths, the World Health Organization has said.
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