Eight people, including five children, died while walking for three hours to seek medical treatment for cholera in South Sudan after U.S. aid cuts forced local health services to close, the charity Save the Children reported on Wednesday.
The tragic deaths occurred last month and are among the first directly linked to aid cuts imposed by the Trump administration, which froze funding to review whether grants aligned with its “America First” policy. The U.S. also canceled over 90% of USAID’s contracts, prompting warnings from experts that these reductions could lead to millions of deaths due to malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases in the coming years.
Save the Children had been supporting 27 health facilities in Jonglei State, but the U.S. cuts forced seven of them to shut down entirely and left 20 operating at a reduced capacity. The cessation of U.S.-funded transportation services also left those seeking medical help with no choice but to walk in near 40°C (104°F) heat to the nearest health center.
Three of the children who died were under the age of 5, said Christopher Nyamandi, Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan. “There should be global moral outrage that decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks,” he added.
In addition to the U.S. cuts, other donor reductions have further strained South Sudan’s humanitarian response. Save the Children expects to spend $30 million in the country in 2025, down from $50 million last year.
South Sudan, with a population of roughly 12 million, is facing immense challenges. Over a third of the population has been displaced by conflict or natural disasters. The United Nations has warned that the country may be on the brink of another civil war after renewed fighting erupted in the northeast in February.
A cholera outbreak declared last October has infected over 22,000 people, resulting in hundreds of deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
