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Nigeria And Other African Countries Shut Clinics Over USAID Funding Cuts

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Several African nations, including Nigeria, have closed numerous USAID-funded clinics due to recent budget reductions ordered by US President Donald Trump.

In Nigeria’s conflict-ridden Borno state, clinics that previously treated 300 patients daily have suddenly ceased operations, according to Adamu Ibrahim, a nurse who lost his job, and other dismissed workers who spoke to AFP, following the termination of US financial support by President Donald Trump.

“The clinics have been closed and (there are) no more free drugs or mosquito nets,” said Ibrahim.

The abrupt dissolution of USAID — the nation’s primary foreign aid agency — is destabilizing healthcare systems throughout Africa, which were constructed from an intricate network of national health ministries, private companies, nonprofit organizations, and international assistance.
As the impact of these reductions intensifies, the resulting harm — and fatalities — are unlikely to subside soon: malaria cases are expected to surge toward the end of the rainy season, while proposed US reductions to global vaccine funding could have repercussions later in the year.

In Nigeria, alongside job losses, clinics addressing malnutrition have also shut their doors.

Disrupted supply chains are causing drugs to risk being stranded in warehouses in Mali. In South Sudan, children are trekking miles to access cholera treatment and dying en route, while refugee camps in Kenya are grappling with shortages of medicine.

“People with resources will be able to go and get drugs… but the poorest of the poor, out in remote areas of Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, they’re the ones who will be cut off,” said Lawrence Barat, a former senior technical advisor for the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).

“They’re the ones whose children will die.”

Health ministry forecasts across African nations, designed to prepare for the rainy season, now face significant gaps, according to Saschveen Singh, an infectious disease expert with Doctors Without Borders in France.

In Mali, while seasonal malaria prevention drugs for young children will still enter the country, American funding was essential for managing their distribution, Singh explained to AFP.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the USAID-backed PMI served as the main supplier of malaria drugs and tests to government health facilities across nine provinces.

“Suddenly, they’ll just not have drugs, and it’s going to be very difficult for other actors to step in,” said Singh, noting that her colleagues are “scrambling” to identify potential gaps.

In South Sudan, USAID-supported clinics have shut down during a cholera outbreak. Children are walking hours to reach the nearest treatment center, with at least five dying on the journey in Jonglei state, according to a recent report from British charity Save the Children.

In Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people, protests erupted in March when food rations were reduced, and doctors are now facing medicine shortages.

“All the clinics around, you can get paracetamol. But all other drugs, no,” one camp elder, who requested anonymity, told AFP during a recent visit.

At Kinkole General Hospital in Kinshasa, doctors were recently treating 23 mpox patients in isolation tents at no cost, thanks to American funding. However, staff are uncertain whether this support will persist, despite an outbreak that has infected 16,000 and killed 1,600.

“We’re thinking a disaster is coming,” said Yvonne Walo, an epidemiologist at the center.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli

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