The UK-based charity, Save the Children, said on Wednesday that at least eight people infected by cholera in South Sudan, including five children died on a three-hour walk to seek medical treatment after US aid cuts forced local health services to close.
The deaths last month are reportedly among the first to be directly attributed to cuts imposed by US President Donald Trump after entering office on January 20.
Recall that the US administration said it froze aid to review whether grants were aligned with Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that the cuts, including the cancellation of more than 90% of USAID’s contracts, could cost millions of lives in the coming years due to malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
As of the time of filing this report, the US State Department has not made any comment on the development.
The organisation said in a statement that Save the Children supported 27 health facilities in eastern South Sudan’s Jonglei State until earlier this year when the US cuts forced seven to shut completely and 20 to partially close.
It added that US funded transport services to take people to hospital in the main local town have also ceased for lack of funds, which obliged the eight individuals to walk in nearly 40°C (104°F) heat to seek treatment at the nearest health facility.
Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan, Christopher Nyamandi, said three of the children were under the age of 5.
“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,” Nyamandi said.
