How UK aid cuts could affect parts of Africa: NPR

When the Trump administration massively cut US foreign aid last year, Dr. Manenzi Mangundu, Oxfam director in the Democratic Republic of Congo, thought other countries would step in to make up the funding shortfall.

In particular, he hoped that the United Kingdom, one of the largest global donor With a long history of development work, its expenses will increase.

But this has not happened.

Instead, UK announced Drastically cuts its own global aid spending by nearly 40% in February 2025 a statement to parliament On 19 March, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper provided more details, saying that the UK had taken the “extremely difficult decision” to reduce its development budget to finance its defense spending.

The announcement comes as aid groups like Oxfam are still grappling with the impact of US aid cuts. Mangundu says the consequences of cuts in Britain would be devastating.

“We have no hope of reaching the people who need our help,” says Mangundu.

Last year, the UK spent more than $100 million (80 million pounds) Assistance to the DRC, supporting the protection of survivors of sexual violence and providing water and food to people. Mangundu says everything from environmental protection to health care will be affected.

“People wouldn’t have access to medicine. People wouldn’t have access to nurses and doctors, because the UK government was funding all these programs,” says Mangundu. He said education programs would also be cut, putting about 4.5 million children at risk of losing access to schools.

Since the announcement, Mangundu has heard from health officials and doctors across the country. In addition to losing resources to treat everyday health problems, they are also worried about ongoing disease outbreaks.

“We actually have cholera on the rise. Mpox is on the rise and then we also have Ebola-related cases,” he says.

The DRC is one of many countries in Africa and the Middle East facing huge cuts from the UK, in fact, 56% of UK aid. African countries The cuts will be cut, risking further poverty and disease in some of the world’s poorest countries.

says, “Sierra Leone and Malawi are likely to receive no or almost no UK support on health, even though they are among the poorest countries in the world and have high maternal mortality rates.” pete bakerDeputy Director of the Global Health Policy Program at the Center for Global Development.

Countries with high rates of child malnutrition, such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia, are also facing funding cuts.

flora alexanderThe executive director of the International Rescue Committee in the UK says the agreement will have a real impact. She says, “There is no doubt that these cuts will have a devastating impact on issues such as child malnutrition and child health in Somalia, where food insecurity is always a risk.”

The problem is further aggravated by this Disruption in food and fertilizer markets According to Alexander, due to the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Making such huge cuts to Africa seems incredibly short-sighted,” she says. “There is going to be a huge risk of increased starvation.”

“Lives will be lost,” says Baker.

of britain Foreign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeThe company overseeing the aid effort told NPR in a statement that while national security is the first duty of the government, “We remain fully committed to tackling the global challenges of hunger, disease, insecurity and conflict, but we are clear that we must modernize our approach to development to reflect the changing global context.”

Cooper said in a statement in March that the UK would use what is left in its aid budget to prioritize “support for countries and communities facing the worst humanitarian needs – those affected by war and crisis”. Those countries are Ukraine, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories and Sudan.

Baker says these are places that hold geopolitical interest for Britain

“You get the idea that this is a government using the aid budget that doesn’t really believe in development objectives. It’s using it for tactical reasons, strategic reasons for the country.”

It’s a departure for a country that used to be a global champion for aid and development, Baker says, adding that Britain was one of the only major countries to put a large portion of its budget toward aid and was known for developing institutions around the world. GAVI, Vaccine Alliance And global fundWhich works to combat diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

“It was recognized to help well and intelligently,” says Baker.

He says broader geopolitical changes have made these cuts acceptable to the UK government. According to Alexander, this change came about because of the Trump administration’s overhaul of US foreign aid.

Alexander says, “The world’s largest aid donor is making huge cuts to its aid budget, certainly, setting a kind of tone and trend that some people describe as a race to the bottom.”

“You wouldn’t expect the progressive political party in the UK – the Labor government – ​​to cut the aid budget by 40%, but it feels like we’re kind of in a whole new era in terms of the focus on defense spending.”

They fear that more countries will do so to stop using taxpayer money to aid low-income countries.

Oxfam’s Mangundu says he is really surprised by the cuts in the DRC, given how important its natural resources are to the US and Britain.

“Every country is interested in going to the DRC to mine critical minerals,” he says. The US and Britain are Demand for access to minerals Such as copper, cobalt, lithium, diamond and others. But he says those minerals should be processed in the DRC, creating jobs for the local population. Instead, they are exported to other countries.

“So how do you expect that to benefit the population of the DRC?” Mangundu says.

He says humanitarian and health funds at least provided people with some solace that they would be supported.