28 h. ago One third of children in parts of Kenya severely malnourised as aid cuts worsen crisis

Exclusive: Data from Save the Children reveals a devastating shortages of food in affecting tens of thousands of infants under the age of five

Events

3 d. ago Former MI5 boss warns aid cuts risk UK’s influence on world stage

Baroness Manningham-Buller says the cuts will allow China to ‘move in’ and lessen Britain’s diplomatic power

Events

6 d. ago Voices: Taxes on alcohol and smoking can help countries facing severe aid cuts

The benefits of health taxes are clear, writes the World Health Organisation's Jeremy Farrar. But it requires political courage to invest in all of our futures

Politics

7 d. ago Trump’s aid cuts bring fresh hate for those with HIV in Kenya: ‘It takes little to push people back’

The slashing of foreign aid and closure of HIV programmes earlier this year is continuing to impact people living with HIV, writes Nick Ferris in Nairobi, causing serious damage to long-term efforts to end stigma around HIV and its treatment

Politics

7 d. ago They fled war and sexual violence and found a safe space in Athens. Then the aid cuts hit

Thirty women and their children found themselves out on the streets when their shelter closed. It was a direct result of US and European governments slashing their aid budgetsThe night of 29 May was sombre at 15 Mitsaki Street, a women’s shelter in the centre of Athens. Shoes, winter coats, shampoo bottles and sheets lay strewn around: belongings the 30 refugee women and five children living there had worked hard to acquire, and would now have to abandon. The next day, the shelter would be shuttered for good.“I was so stressed I couldn’t sleep,” says Oksana Kutko, a Ukrainian. “I knew I had nowhere to go.” Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Unsafe abortions and no antenatal care: aid cuts hit women hardest in one of Africa’s poorest countries

Mobile clinics in rural Malawi that provided pregnancy checks as well as vaccinations and TB tests have been lostA blue, burgundy and white patterned wrapper hides the swell of Joanna Banda’s belly. Eight months pregnant, she has had just three of the five antenatal appointments she should have had. She is unlikely to attend her final three either, as she still has to save 3,000 kwacha (£1.28) for a bicycle to take her six miles on rutted dirt tracks to the nearest health centre when she goes into labour.In remote villages in Malawi, pregnant women such as 22-year-old Banda, who has one child after losing her first soon after giving birth, are struggling to get the medical care they need. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Former president Peter Mutharika defeats incumbent in Malawi presidential election

Lazarus Chakwera, who presided over a multi-year economic crisis, concedes election after 85-year-old Mutharika wins 56.8% of voteMalawians have voted in an 85-year-old former leader over an incumbent who presided over a multi-year economic crisis, high inflation, essential goods shortages, climate disasters and international aid cuts.Peter Mutharika got 56.8% of the vote compared with 33% for Lazarus Chakwera, according to official results of the 16 September presidential election announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago The nation where Trump’s aid cuts are colliding with a deadly Ebola outbreak: ‘What we feared has now happened’

As the Democratic Republic of Congo faces its 16th Ebola outbreak, aid cuts mean support for its response is dwindling, writes Rachel Schraer

Politics

1 week ago Voices: In our new global order we must focus on aid, not just development

As humanitarian need hits record levels, aid budgets are being cut and redirected, says David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee. A clear strategy is needed to ensure the poorest and most fragile communities are not abandoned

Politics

1 week ago Death by aid cuts: how a decision in the US led to the loss of a mother in Yemen

While the Trump administration claims no one will die over the axing of its overseas development budgets, aid agencies say the action will cost at least 3 million lives. Fatima and her baby were among the firstWhen she woke on that Sunday morning, Fatima was part of a family preparing to celebrate – she was due to give birth to her third child any day and her brother was on his way home from Saudi Arabia to get married.But by mid-afternoon, the family were instead preparing for a funeral – both Fatima and her baby were dead. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Voices: In our new world order, it is aid, not development, that matters most

As humanitarian need hits record levels, aid budgets are being cut and redirected, says David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee. A clear strategy is needed to ensure the poorest and most fragile communities are not abandoned

Politics

1 week ago UK aid cuts 'are a gift' to China and Russia's bid to undermine United Nations

In a report published ahead of the UN's General Assembly week, the Foreign Affairs Committee urged the Government restore the aid budget

Politics

2 w. ago UN needs to cut $500m from 2026 budget and lose 20% of staff after US funding reductions

Job losses and global reorganisation expected amid Trump administration’s slashing of funding and ‘UN80’ reviewThe UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago UN faces $500m budget cut and 20% job losses after big drop in US funding

Core budget to fall to $3.2bn next year and initial minimum 3,000 job cuts expected amid streamlining processThe UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago From Benedict Cumberbatch and Florence Pugh to Yara Eid and Mehdi Hasan: key speeches from star

Concert raises £1.5m for humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza

Politics

2 w. ago From Benedict Cumberbatch to Nicola Coughlan, watch key speeches from star

Concert raises £1.5m for humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza

Politics

2 w. ago On the road with the minister tasked with defending Britain’s painful aid cuts to Ghana

Jenny Chapman is shown the impact of her government’s ever-diminishing assistance on her first trip since taking charge of developmentIt is mid-afternoon on an overcast day in a suburb of Accra, Ghana’s capital. A crowd, including two government ministers, a World Bank director, diplomats, NGO workers and camera-wielding media, has descended upon a classroom where pupils sit around tables playing with plastic bottle tops.This is a catch-up class for out-of-school children, aged between eight and 16, run by Ghana Education Outcomes Project that is almost entirely (85%) funded by the UK government. The resulting circus is because Jenny Chapman, the UK’s development minister, has come to see the impact of her government’s diminishing aid budget. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago How Mpox revealed an epidemic of untreated HIV in Sierra Leone – as Trump’s aid cuts begin to bite

The impact of the US slashing foreign aid on the country’s Mpox response has likely been huge, activists on the ground tell Rachel Schraer

Politics

2 w. ago Conflict, aid cuts and equality backlash causing ‘stagnation and regression’ of women’s rights – UN

Report calls on governments to commit to renewed action at general assembly in New York, saying ‘a different path is still possible’Hard-won progress on women’s access to healthcare, rights and employment is being put at risk from global conflict, cuts to aid spending, and a backlash against gender equality, according to a UN equality watchdog.A woman’s chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth is more than a third lower than it was 25 years ago, UN Women said in its annual report, while girls are more likely to complete school than ever before. It also found that rates of intimate partner violence were 2.5 times lower in countries that had introduced comprehensive measures on violence. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Voices: Cutting aid funding now could bring a dangerous resurgence in malaria

A resurgence in malaria would mean tens of thousands of young children dying, writes Gareth Jenkins, despite there being effective means of helping them

Politics