USAID Cuts Cripple Health Clinics in Nigeria as Malaria Season Looms

As the rainy season begins across West Africa, clinics across Nigeria and several other African nations are shutting their doors following major funding cuts from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The abrupt withdrawal of aid has left communities in crisis, with health workers unemployed and critical services like malaria and cholera treatment suspended.

In Borno State, Nigeria—where conflict and displacement already strain local infrastructure—clinics that once treated up to 300 patients daily have been forced to close. Musa Adamu Ibrahim, a laid-off nurse, lamented the collapse: “The clinics have been closed and there are no more free drugs or mosquito nets.”

The cuts are a direct result of U.S. policy shifts under former President Donald Trump, whose administration dismantled key USAID programs. The consequences are spreading fast. In addition to Nigeria, countries like Mali, South Sudan, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are reporting severe disruptions to public health systems, drug supply chains, and vaccine distribution plans.

In South Sudan, the impact is deadly—Save the Children reports that five children have died while walking long distances to cholera treatment centers that remain open. In Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, protests have erupted amid medicine shortages and reduced food rations. Meanwhile, in the DRC, hospitals dependent on U.S. malaria funding are bracing for drug shortages as infections rise.

Experts warn the full scope of the damage is yet to come. Malaria cases are expected to spike by the end of the rainy season, and impending U.S. cuts to vaccine programs—especially funding to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance—could push fragile systems to the brink.

“This is too big a hole to be filled,” said Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar, warning that vaccine campaigns in some of the world’s poorest countries are in jeopardy.

From unemployed health workers in Nigeria to isolated patients in Congo and desperate refugees in Kenya, the ripple effects of America’s foreign aid rollback are turning a looming public health threat into a full-blown crisis.