Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Children and adults ride swings and take in the sunlight at a park in Marikina City on Oct 27, 2021 as Metro Manila remains under COVID-19 Alert Level 3. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1746097520218a0c239055ff649d49160cc731abf1cfc106c7bf3e7d3d848f8425a2ab943cea1.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Children and adults ride swings and take in the sunlight at a park in Marikina City on Oct 27, 2021 as Metro Manila remains under COVID-19 Alert Level 3. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>AMMAN, Jordan — When he grows up, five-year-old Ahmad wants to be &quot;stronger than Spider-Man.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/usaid-closure-affects-p4-billion-in-deped-projects-0923">USAID closure affects P4 billion in DepEd projects</a></div><p>But his dream clashes with a harsh reality -- the Jordanian boy has a serious disability, and major US aid cuts mean he will likely miss out on vital care.</p><p>Like him, millions of children around the world are suffering from the sweeping cuts ordered by US President Donald Trump.</p><p>All are grappling with hardship in one form or other: war, crime, global warming, poverty, disease and more.</p><p>Ahmad, who has a spinal malformation, cannot hold his torso upright and is paralyzed from the waist down.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/29/deported-mothers-of-us-born-children-suffering-from-trauma-lawyers-1240">Deported mothers of US-born children suffering from trauma: lawyers</a></div><p>The boy was receiving physiotherapy sessions from Handicap International &quot;to strengthen his upper limbs and enable him, later on, to walk with crutches,&quot; said his father, Mahmud Abdulrahman, a 30-year-old day laborer.</p><p>Abdulrahman said the non-governmental organization was also due to provide orthotics and prosthetics to straighten Ahmad&#x27;s lower limbs -- none of which he could afford on his meagre salary.</p><p>Now, none of that will happen.</p><p>The Wehdat Rehabilitation Centre they attended in Jordan&#x27;s capital Amman was one of the first victims of Trump&#x27;s aid cuts.</p><p>More than 600 patients found themselves deprived of care overnight.</p><p>Prosthetics already specially designed for around 30 children, as well as wheelchairs, could not be delivered to them, on Washington&#x27;s orders.</p><p>&quot;The movement that was taught will be forgotten,&quot; said Dr Abdullah Hmoud, a physiotherapist who worked at the centre, describing the potential losses as &quot;catastrophic&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/3/4/trump-pauses-aid-to-ukraine-after-zelensky-clash-0940">Trump pauses aid to Ukraine after Zelensky clash</a></div><p>There is also emotional suffering.</p><p>When he realized he would no longer see his physiotherapist, &quot;Ahmad stopped eating for three days. He didn&#x27;t want to get up,&quot; said his father.</p><p>With the closure of his rehabilitation centre, &quot;I feel like they want to kill me,&quot; the boy said in a hushed voice.</p><div><strong>GLOBAL FALLOUT </strong></div><p>Ahmad&#x27;s story is one among many in a wave of horror accounts surfacing from the humanitarian sector since the United States said it was cutting 83 percent of its aid.</p><p>USAID -- which the Trump administration has dismantled -- had supported 42 percent of all aid distributed globally, with a $42.8 billion budget.</p><p>At a refugee camp in Bangladesh, home to a million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar, half of them children, Save the Children has been forced to ration food.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wg0-ZY-DvaM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The NGO fears desperate families could be pushed to hand over daughters to traffickers or send sons on dangerous sea crossings to Malaysia for work.</p><p>In Mozambique, Solidarites International had to shut down a program providing food and water to internally displaced people, including tens of thousands of children.</p><p>In Malawi, similar numbers will no longer receive free school meals, according to another NGO which requested anonymity for fear of US reprisals.</p><p>Without food, many children will drop out of school -- all the more galling, the NGO said, as millions of meals are reportedly left to rot in warehouses due to the US decision.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s like the rug is being pulled out from under their feet,&quot; said one staff member.</p><div><strong>&#x27;LAST LIFELINES&#x27;</strong></div><p>Women and girls are often the first to lose out, with their education traditionally sacrificed first.</p><p>The Norwegian Refugee Council said it will have to &quot;significantly reduce&quot; aid to women and girls in Afghanistan because the US funds paid for many of the female staff who worked with them.</p><p>&quot;The very last lifelines for many women and girls will be taken away,&quot; said Camilla Waszink, a director at the organization.</p><p>Malnutrition already affects 150 million children under five, and the numbers could surge.</p><p>&quot;Millions of additional children will suffer stunted growth&quot; and impaired brain capacity, said Kevin Goldberg, director of Solidarites International.</p><p>In another blow to children, Washington is expected to drastically reduce funding for vaccination programmes in poor countries.</p><p>Sania Nishtar, CEO of the Vaccine Alliance, warned the cuts -- if confirmed -- could result in &quot;an estimated 1.3 million children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases&quot;.</p><div><strong>— By Mussa Hattar with Joris Fioriti in Nairobi, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bGwJ3vCOgVU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Millions of children around the world are suffering from the sweeping aid cuts ordered by US President Donald Trump.</p>

Millions of children around the world are suffering from the sweeping aid cuts ordered by US President Donald Trump.

Millions of children to suffer from Trump aid cuts

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Millions of children to suffer from Trump aid cuts

Agence France-Presse

Published May 01, 2025 07:42 PM PHT

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