A US-funded nutrition program was helping to keep this woman’s baby alive. Days after the program was cut, he died

Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze foreign aid and cut support for programs aid groups deemed lifesaving – decisions that quickly turned into life-or-death realities for families like Usman’s. The nutrition program in Dikwa, which was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), received a sudden stop-work order during the administration’s aid freeze, according to the nonprofit that implemented the work, Mercy Corps.

The Trump administration had previously canceled more than 80% of programs at USAID, which delivered US humanitarian aid overseas. It later essentially shuttered the agency, claiming it was engaged in waste and abuse, and moved foreign aid administration under the State Department, which critics say has not delivered on much of USAID’s legacy work.