South Sudan Cholera Patients Died Walking to Clinic After US Cut Aid

By Staff, Agencies

The UK-based charity Save the Children reported on Wednesday that eight people including five children, died in South Sudan after a three-hour walk to seek medical help for cholera following the closure of local health services due to US aid cuts,

The deaths, which occurred last month, are among the first linked directly to funding reductions ordered by US President Donald Trump after taking office on January 20, part of an effort to align foreign aid with his "America First" policy.

Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan, Christopher Nyamandi, said, "There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks."

Experts have cautioned that the funding cuts, which include the termination of over 90% of USAID contracts, could result in millions of preventable deaths in the coming years from malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said it had no information on the deaths cited by Save the Children, with a spokesperson claiming that while many US-backed humanitarian programs in South Sudan remain operational, assistance for medical services had, in some cases, allegedly been misused by the country’s leadership.

"While emergency lifesaving programs continue, we will not, in good conscience, ask the American taxpayer to provide assistance that effectively subsidizes the irresponsible and corrupt behavior of South Sudan’s political leaders," the spokesperson said.

Save the Children said it had supported 27 health centers in Jonglei State, eastern South Sudan, until US aid reductions earlier this year forced seven to close entirely and left 20 only partially operational.

In addition to US cuts, gradual pullbacks from other donors have also strained the country’s humanitarian operations. Save the Children expects to spend $30 million in South Sudan in 2025, down from $50 million in 2024, according to Nyamandi.