The list of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects that the Trump administration has cancelled runs to 368 pages and provides a rare glimpse of the extent of the US international influence.

READ HERE: USAID Terminated Awards (6 March 2025)

Projects vary from huge infrastructure support programmes (14 to unspecified countries worth $800 million each) to a $10 million investment in developing insect-resistant eggplants.

They range from supporting famine early warning system networks (three projects worth $900 million each) to establishing an American Chamber of Commerce in Belarus. Almost every country is affected – from Albania to Zambia.

A huge $520 million ‘Prosper Africa’ programme to foster trade between the US and Africa has been terminated, and so too have programmes to improve the soybean yield in sub-Saharan Africa and to assist African health ministries to deal with infectious diseases.

There are some surprises. Venezuela received a few grants, including one to secure its  agricultural sector. Although the communist government of Venezuela is a sworn enemy of the US, it was no doubt prudent for the US to try to support the country to stem the tide of immigrants.

Grants were also made to Iraq and Syria for “technical assistance to repatriate families” and to assist with child immunisation despite the rancour between the US and those countries.

Grants for “humanitarian assistance for persecuted people in Cuba” and to promote “religious and ethnic freedom” in Asia were also cancelled.

Numerous projects aimed at bolstering food security, and combatting malaria, tuberculosis and HIV were also canned. The global vaccine platform, Gavi, has also been hit with huge cuts.

So too were projects to combat corruption and cybercrime. The door is wide open for new donors – and criminals – to take advantage of the resource vacuum. 

HIV sector warns of millions of deaths

Earlier this week, over 530 HIV doctors, researchers, scientists, and public health experts gather at the 2025 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco wrote to Rubio calling for “an urgent reversal of recent decisions by the Trump Administration that are doing catastrophic harm to the global and US response to the AIDS pandemic”.

The signatories wrote that the termination on 26 February of “virtually eliminating” all US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programming being implemented by USAID, and ending US-supported malaria and tuberculosis programmes, will “result in millions of preventable deaths around the world while decimating global progress over the last 25 years”.

They also expressed alarm at the defunding of clinical trials that have “stranded study participants without clinical support” and stripping scientific institutions of staff and funding.

“Over time, these policy decisions may be proven illegal in U.S. courts but the human suffering and loss of lives happening now cannot be reversed by any court order,” they note.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has refused to comment on reports that over 700 diplomats have signed a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning the cuts for endangering US security.

An extract of the letter, said to have been filed on a staff channel that allows anonymous contributions, says: “The decision to freeze and terminate foreign aid contracts and assistance awards without any meaningful review jeopardizes our partnerships with key allies, erodes trust, and creates openings for adversaries to expand their influence.”

An online group to track job losses from USAID closures, USAID Stop Work, estimates that over 50,000 US citizens and 100,000 global workers have lost their jobs. It has been able to confirm 14,762 US jobs and 64,910 global jobs so far.

Image Credits: MSH.