From staff cuts to aid reductions, UN humanitarian agencies scramble in wake of US funding freeze

GENEVA (AP) - Trump administration freezes on U.S. foreign aid have led many United Nations organizations to cut staff, budgets and services in places as diverse as Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and far beyond.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented the "severe cuts” and cited some fallout last week: Over 9 million people in Afghanistan will miss out on health and protection services; cash allocations that helped 1 million people in Ukraine last year have been suspended; funding for programs for people fleeing Sudan have run out, among other things.

Many independent NGOs - some that work with the United Nations - have cited many project closures because of the U.S. administration's decision to eliminate more than 90% of foreign aid contracts, cut some $60 billion in funding, and terminate some 10,000 contracts worldwide involving the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID.

For their part, U.N. agencies have been scrambling to revise their operations, make strategic cuts, seek funding elsewhere, and appeal to the administration to restore U.S. support. Some hope federal court rulings will salvage some U.S. foreign aid outlays.

Here’s what some U.N. organizations say about the impact of the U.S. funding freezes and their response to them - so far.

UNHCR : The U.N. refugee agency, which got over 40% of its nearly $5 billion budget last year from the United States, told The Associated Press on Wednesday the pause in U.S. funding allocations have affected operations and its "first cost saving efforts" will involve cutting $300 million in planned activities.

Some partners - U.N. organizations often rely on and fund outside groups - have pulled back or halted some activities that, for example, have led to suspended services for nearly 180,000 forcibly displaced women in girls in Central African Republic, Uganda and South Sudan. In Ethiopia, 200,000 forcibly displaced women and girls will be affected by the closure of services, it said.

"If new funding is not forthcoming soon, more cuts in direct life-saving assistance will be inevitable," spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said.

IOM: The International Organization for Migration, which is run by Amy Pope of the United States and got more than 40% of its $3.4 billion budget in 2023 from the U.S., said it was "acting accordingly” in response to the U.S. order to pause foreign assistance funding that was affecting staff, operations and beneficiaries.

Devex, a news organization focusing on global development, reported last month that IOM sent dismissal notices to some 3,000 employees who had been working on a U.S. resettlement program following the funding freezes. The agency declined to comment to the AP.

WHO: The Trump administration has been especially tough with the World Health Organization. One of his earliest executive orders announced a U.S. pullout from the U.N. health agency, which can’t take full effect until next January, as well as a recall of U.S. staff working with WHO and funding pauses.

WHO says a global measles and rubella lab network is "at risk of collapse" because its cost of about $8 million a year is entirely funded by the U.S. The funding cuts have affected the global response to mpox, and WHO has tapped its own emergency funds to fill gaps left in the response to Ebola in Uganda.

On Wednesday, WHO said U.S. cuts in bilateral funding to fight tuberculosis will have a "devastating response on TB programs" - which the United States has generally contributed $200-$250 million to every year over the last decade.

UNAIDS : The AIDS-fighting agency said Wednesday that U.S. funding has "served as the backbone" for HIV prevention in many countries hit hard by the virus. U.S. funding amounts to 55% of the total AIDS budget in Uganda, and the funding freeze has led to the closure of drop-in centers and service points that provide antiretroviral therapy.

It said a rapid assessment estimated that 750,000 people in Haiti are affected by the U.S. freeze, and 70% of the 181 total sites funded through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, had closed: "Patients have flooded the remaining sites, which are unable to meet the increased demand."

A "large portion" of PEPFAR-funded staff working on HIV response in South Africa will be affected because dozens of USAID implementing partners received termination letters last week, UNAIDS said.

At a regular briefing Thursday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric highlighted the impact of funding cuts on Afghanistan alone, saying more than 200 health facilities have closed — depriving 1.8 million people from essential health services in the country.

OCHA: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday it was releasing $110 million from its emergency response fund to help address underfunded crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief who heads the office, told the Security Council on Thursday the U.S. funding cuts to foreign aid amounted to "body blow to our work to save lives."

He said he had asked partners to provide lists of areas where they have to cut back.

"It is of course for individual countries to decide how to spend their money. But it is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face," Fletcher said.