‘Children Died Waiting’ After Trump Freeze of USAID Operations Stranded Medications

An investigation published Tuesday reveals how the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid—even those that have been quickly restored under public pressure—have proven deadly for children in poverty-stricken nations.

The halting of a global supply chain program that ships crucial antimalarial and HIV medications around the world was one of President Donald Trump's first actions, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that many of the programs run by the US Agency for International Development "run counter to what we’re trying to do in our national strategy" and moved to end USAID's operations.

Portions of the Global Health Supply Chain Program resumed within days of Trump's executive order suspending foreign aid, but as The Washington Post reported in its exclusive investigation, "the suspension had lingering effects that left aid deliveries severely disrupted for months" and severely reduced public health workers' ability to distribute lifesaving medications, screening tests, and other supplies to more than 40 countries.

While more than $190 million worth of anti-HIV/AIDS and antimalarial supplies were scheduled to arrive at distribution warehouses by the end of June, nearly $76 million did not arrive, including a majority of the medications to fight malaria.

Medical supplies worth $63 million did eventually make it to warehouses, but were delayed by 41 days on average, and many sat on warehouse shelves for weeks instead of being sent to clinics and hospitals.

The newspaper told the story of five-year-old Suza Kenyaba, one victim of the delay in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who contracted malaria when the medication supply chain was in a state of chaos due to Trump's order.

"The Trump administration's claim that no one has died from cuts to USAID is devastatingly and disastrously untrue."

The medication the little girl needed was just seven miles away from the clinic where she was battling a high fever caused by the infection, but the disruption to the supply chain program left the medicine stranded in a warehouse.

"The medication that USAID sent was seven miles away due to Trump chaos and suspensions," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). "It would have saved her life. Shame. This is not leadership. This is callous arrogance."

The Post published its report a week after Rubio appeared on ABC News and told anchor George Stephanopoulos flatly that "no one has died because the United States has cut aid."

The secretary of state claimed—contrary to evidence—that the administration had simply worked to structure programs to make them more efficient.

But as the Post reported, the stop-work order issued by the administration had rippling effects across the foreign aid pipeline. Chemonics, a contractor that operates the Global Health Supply Chain Program, lost access to a government payment system, inhibiting its "ability to order suppliers to resume work.” As a result, it was forced to furlough 750 people in its US workforce as well as lay off local staff.

While Rubio rolled back some of the foreign aid cuts in late January, issuing a blanket waiver for "lifesaving humanitarian assistance," Chemonics' logistics program that delivers medications from local warehouses to clinics like the one where Kenyaba was fighting malaria was not included in the waiver.

The investigation revealed, said one observer, that Trump has the "deaths of children on his hands."

Oxfam America called on Congress to "fund lifesaving aid."

"The Trump administration's claim that no one has died from cuts to USAID is devastatingly and disastrously untrue," said the group. "Their attacks on USAID stranded lifesaving medication and children died waiting."