“The end of American aid has cut our breath”

On February 26, 2025, the United States abolished 92% of USAID funds, the American agency for international development. It financed 42% of global humanitarian aid. Does this decision weaken your actions?

Yes, it’s a disaster! In Togo, the association “Living in Hope” heals more than 850 people with AIDS and supports orphans whose parents have succumbed to the disease (It was created in 1999, editor’s note). The end of American humanitarian aid has cut our breaths.

So far, the USAID was funding, via the American program Pepfar, up to 23% of the national budget allocated to the fight against HIV. Thanks to this help plan, we collaborated with doctors and psychologists who followed patients. We also had mediators, who were going to meet populations far from care systems. When the Trump administration announced the freezing of American aid in late January, these teams were brutally returned.

Your association acts in northern Togo. Why is this region very affected by HIV?

In the savannah region, in northern Togo, HIV spreads much more than elsewhere in the country, because great insecurity reigns. We are on the border of Burkina Faso, in an area where jihadist groups have been leading raids since 2018. They regularly attack the Togolese army and civilians are killed each year. But the population of the savannah region also undergoes the sharp increase in the cost of living in Togo, while families already have low incomes. This situation therefore weakens the inhabitants. They have hardly access to contraception, to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.

How can you compensate for American support?

The Togolese state has agreed to provide an additional, emergency budgetary effort in the national HIV fight program. He is committed to maintaining complete coverage of HIV positive people, to avoid any stock of treatments. Discussions are underway in the government to preserve the health sector, even if it means operating budget cuts in other ministries.

As for our association, she had to ask the Caritas of Togo (NGOs which depends on the Catholic Church, Editor’s note) to fill the lack of the American help plan. But the help of Caritas Togo cannot be enough and we need to quickly find other partners. Now we have to get closer to the European branches of the NGO Caritas.

Does the abolition of American aid affect other sectors in Togo?

Yes, the American development aid agency was funding both health and school programs. In the savannah region, it made it possible to fight terrorism and violence. More and more Togolese young people are tempted to integrate jihadist groups, to escape poverty and precariousness. Social cohesion projects, funded by USAID, allowed them to put them back in the right way. I had just carried out a study on the psychological impact of jihadist terrorism, as part of a 100% funded program by USAID. At the end of January, I learned the program stop by a simple email …