section_path: Concerns and criticism/Aid freeze victims
section_name: Aid freeze victims
paragraph_text: Aid freeze victims
  
  The impact of the demise of USAID on global health is wide reaching.
  
  In March 2025, experts from the Center for Global Development estimated that before the freeze, USAID programs annually prevented approximately 1,650,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, 500,000 deaths from lack of vaccines, 310,000 deaths from tuberculosis and 290,000 deaths from malaria.
  
  Pe Kha Lau, 71, died after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) while still relying on oxygen to survive. In the Umpiem Mai camp in Thailand, witnesses reported the deaths of multiple patients who too relied on oxygen. The IRC offered their condolences to the family and friends of Pe Kha Lau. Nicholas Kristof also documented evidence contradicting Elon Musk's claim that "No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding. No one." Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly claimed while testifying before Congress that no death resulted from the shutdown.
  
  Christine Stegling, deputy executive director at UNAIDS, estimates that there could be a 400% increase in AIDS-related deaths around the world if PEPFAR is not formally reauthorized for USAID funding, which represents around 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths within four years. In 2024, PEPFAR funds accounted for 14% of the entire health budget of Zimbabwe.
  
  According to Pio Smith, UNFPA ’s Asia-Pacific regional director, the USAID freeze could lead to 1,200 maternal deaths and 109,000 additional unwanted pregnancies in the next three years in Afghanistan.
  
  USAID-funded breast feeding programs in Nepal were brought to a halt following the aid freeze on January 20, 2025.
  
  Dr. Brooke Nichols, an infectious disease modeler working at Boston University, created an impact counter to estimate the life toll of funding freezes on various USAID health programs. As of 1 June 2025, the counter estimates that over 307,900 deaths have been caused by the funding freeze, over 208,100 of which are children.
  
  A USAID info memo written by Nicholas Enrich, Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health, dated March 4, 2025, outlines the risks of the aid freeze. He states that a permanent suspension of lifesaving humanitarian aid poses a direct threat to public health, economic stability, national security and biothreat vulnerability. He concludes: "Any decision to halt or significantly reduce global health funding for lifesaving humanitarian assistance (LHA)—despite approved waivers—and USAID global health programming, despite congressional mandates, would have severe domestic and global consequences." Enrich was notified that he was put on administrative leave less than 30 minutes after the memo's publication, a decision that had reportedly been made a week prior.
  
  The impact of the demise of USAID on global health is wide reaching.
  
  In March 2025, experts from the Center for Global Development estimated that before the freeze, USAID programs annually prevented approximately 1,650,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, 500,000 deaths from lack of vaccines, 310,000 deaths from tuberculosis and 290,000 deaths from malaria.
  
  Pe Kha Lau, 71, died after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) while still relying on oxygen to survive. In the Umpiem Mai camp in Thailand, witnesses reported the deaths of multiple patients who too relied on oxygen. The IRC offered their condolences to the family and friends of Pe Kha Lau. Nicholas Kristof also documented evidence contradicting Elon Musk's claim that "No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding. No one." Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly claimed while testifying before Congress that no death resulted from the shutdown.
  
  Christine Stegling, deputy executive director at UNAIDS, estimates that there could be a 400% increase in AIDS-related deaths around the world if PEPFAR is not formally reauthorized for USAID funding, which represents around 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths within four years. In 2024, PEPFAR funds accounted for 14% of the entire health budget of Zimbabwe.
  
  According to Pio Smith, UNFPA ’s Asia-Pacific regional director, the USAID freeze could lead to 1,200 maternal deaths and 109,000 additional unwanted pregnancies in the next three years in Afghanistan.
  
  USAID-funded breast feeding programs in Nepal were brought to a halt following the aid freeze on January 20, 2025.
  
  Dr. Brooke Nichols, an infectious disease modeler working at Boston University, created an impact counter to estimate the life toll of funding freezes on various USAID health programs. As of 1 June 2025, the counter estimates that over 307,900 deaths have been caused by the funding freeze, over 208,100 of which are children.
  
  A USAID info memo written by Nicholas Enrich, Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health, dated March 4, 2025, outlines the risks of the aid freeze. He states that a permanent suspension of lifesaving humanitarian aid poses a direct threat to public health, economic stability, national security and biothreat vulnerability. He concludes: "Any decision to halt or significantly reduce global health funding for lifesaving humanitarian assistance (LHA)—despite approved waivers—and USAID global health programming, despite congressional mandates, would have severe domestic and global consequences." Enrich was notified that he was put on administrative leave less than 30 minutes after the memo's publication, a decision that had reportedly been made a week prior.