Aid Cuts Could Result in A Child Under Five Dying Every Forty Seconds by 2030, Says Oxfam

April 16, 2026

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Africa, America First Policy, child health, Children, Foreign Policy, Foriegn Aid, funding crisis, newborn health, Oxfam, USAID

Just this week, the Trump Administration is again touting the benefits of implementing a trade-over-aid policy that some believe will lead to the exploitation of lower-income countries. After summarily gutting USAID last year and cutting humanitarian aid for food assistance, health programs, and disaster relief by 70%, the administration contends that trade-over-aid will prioritize economic partnerships and private investments. This, they say, will allow lower-and middle-income countries to provide humanitarian aid to their own people through free-market capitalism. This trade-over-aid policy will undoubtedly create opportunities for US companies in an America First strategy. Supporters of this new foreign policy directive believe it will cut waste and fraud, which they said ran rife in USAID.

“The idea that trade and free market capitalism is the surest path to prosperity has been proven by the facts and by history,” State ‌Department deputy ⁠spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.

“The U.S. remains the most generous country in the history of the world, but those arguing for ‘aid not trade’ are really arguing for lining the pockets of a corrupt NGO industrial complex.”

The question becomes, then, how much time will free-market capitalism take effect and how many people will die during the process?

One of Oxfam’s latest reports says that a child under five may die every forty seconds by 2030 due to these drastic cuts to humanitarian aid. This is especially heartbreaking as global humanitarian efforts have saved more newborn and child lives, and the data proves it. Last year, the Gates Foundation wrote that an additional 200,000 children could die from these abrupt cuts in aid. Estimates report that 700,000 people have already died.

“We have run out of words to describe the depths of suffering we have witnessed after President Trump took a sledgehammer to U.S. humanitarian assistance and the entire global aid system. We are seeing years of progress unravel, and more children suffer and die preventable deaths because of these cuts,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America.
Oxfam America, of which I am a Sister on the Planet ambassador, has created an interactive website about the humanitarian costs of humanitarian aid cuts. It has been felt since day one of the intentional cutting of foreign aid. On this site, Oxfam America created a compelling timeline of the gutting of USAID and the legal action Oxfam took to try to stop the humanitarian damage resulting from the aid decreases.