NGO asks Americans for donations in newspaper ad after Trump’s drastic aid cuts
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US-funded health projects around the world received termination notices from Washington on Feb 27.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - An international non-governmental organisation has placed a full-page advertisement in Sunday’s New York Times asking Americans to give donations to support hundreds of millions of people in need after drastic cuts in US foreign aid.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the ad was sponsored by a private donor and urged the American public to “meet the moment” following the announcement of a 90 per cent cut in US foreign and humanitarian aid.
“The IRC aims to highlight the severe consequences of these cuts,” it said in a statement.
It said that in the past week, 46 of the IRC’s government grants had received notices of termination, which meant at least two million people would not have access to critical services across multiple crisis zones, including Sudan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
“The IRC is calling on the American public to support our efforts to mitigate the impact of these cuts for people in critical need around the world,” the ad said. It requested donations via donor-advised funds, stock accounts, foundations, checks or credit cards.
US-funded health projects around the world, including those providing life-saving care, received termination notices from Washington
A State Department spokesperson said last week that the US Agency for International Development (USAid) had evaluated 6,200 multi-year awards and had decided to eliminate nearly 5,800 of them, worth US$54 billion (S$73 billion) in value, a 92 per cent reduction.
The administration also cut nearly 30 per cent of the State Department foreign aid-related grants totalling US$4.4 billion.
The IRC ad said: “Children will suffer as food from hardworking American farmers sits idle in warehouses.
“Preventable tragedies, like deaths from treatable diseases, will occur daily. This is a humanitarian catastrophe - a matter of life and death for people already in crisis.”
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has dismissed concerns that Washington is ending foreign aid, saying waivers had been provided to life-saving aid. REUTERS
