Infant twins suffered from malnutrition in Nigeria. One died shortly after the Trump administration sharply cut funding for the United States Agency for International Development.

Under the dappled light of a thatched shelter, Yagana Bulama cradles her surviving infant. The other twin is gone, a casualty of malnutrition and the international funding cuts that are snapping the lifeline for displaced communities in Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged Borno state.

“Feeding is severely difficult,” said Bulama, 40, who was a farmer before Boko Haram militants swept through her village, forcing her to flee. She and about 400,000 other people at the humanitarian hub of Dikwa — virtually the entire population — rely on assistance. The military restricts their movements to a designated “safe zone,” which severely limits farming.

For years, the United States Agency for International Development had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping non-government organizations provide food, shelter and healthcare to millions of people. But this year, the Trump administration cut more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall assistance around the world.

  • b161English
    2·
    59 minutes ago

    Elon Musk is a mass murderer.

  • zephorah@lemm.eeEnglish
    29·
    2 days ago

    What’s galling is the standard format response is: why are we feeding people over there when we have hungry kids right here?

    While fighting school lunches, cutting SNAP, and gutting American food banks. This government will never spend USAID money to feed the American people.

    High odds the feed our own argument will persist regardless.

    • caffinatedone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      …quickly followed by “Why are there so many refugees trying to get into our countries?”

      Between this sort of thing and pursuing policies that accelerate climate change, it’s almost like they’re trying to create misery to exploit.

  • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.comEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    U.S. government: cuts aid to help children in need

    also U.S. government: provides aid to a genocidal regime that has killed, and continues to kill many children

    also also U.S. government: we’re “pro-life”

  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    That’s some title gore. “Aid” twice in a row, confusion as to whether SNAP was somehow involved just for a poor metaphor - cutting a rope doesn’t snap it!