How Aid Cuts Are Affecting Communities Around the World

• Projections show that while the prevalence of undernourishment will decrease between 2025 and 2030, 60% of people affected will be in Africa.
• USAID cuts are especially felt: In 2023, 40% of USAID’s budget was directed to sub-Saharan Africa for programs like Feed the Future and PEPFAR

Democratic Republic of Congo

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), severe levels of acute food insecurity are expected to continue, driven by escalating conflict in the eastern region and accelerated by ODA cuts. The violence has forced widespread displacement, affecting nearly 5.8 million people and has disrupted agricultural production and restricted access to humanitarian assistance.

• The U.S. was the largest donor to the DRC, providing over $1 billion in humanitarian aid annually. Funds were used for health, education, and agricultural and economic development.
• One of the youngest food banks on the continent, Mapendo Banque Alimentaire in the DRC, distributed 7,380 kilograms of food and grocery product to 852 individuals in 2024.

South Africa

South Africa’s operating environment remains challenging, despite some signs of improvement.

• Economic growth is projected at 1.2% in 2025 — well below the threshold needed to meaningfully reduce unemployment. The economy is experiencing a mixed outlook as of 2025.
• While there are signs of recovery and growth, challenges such as high inflation, healthcare costs and economic instability remain significant. Although the unemployment rate has eased slightly to 31.9%, it remains unsustainably high.
• South Africa’s weak economy and struggling businesses have made fundraising extremely challenging, compounded by significant USAID funding cuts. FoodForward South Africa (FFSA), a national network of food banks, states that this has intensified competition among NPOs for a shrinking pool of resources. The first 6 to 9 months of 2026 are expected to remain challenging.

FFSA staff, through their partners, have seen a significant drop in the number of people screened and tested for HIV with the closure of testing centers, which will likely increase the incidence of HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis centers have closed as well, which will start to increase the incidence of the disease. FFSA is launching a pilot with a local community health center to provide food to at-risk tuberculosis patients in Masiphumelele.

GFN provided a grant to ensure that FFSA could continue critical programs, warehouse and general operations.

• Twenty percent of the population — 19.7 million people — of all six countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity, including large numbers of refugees and migrants in Colombia and Ecuador. In total,11.8 million people in the six countries with food crises are displaced.
• USAID’s closure has severely impacted the region: In FY25, more than $2.2 billion dollars in USAID funds were slated for Latin America and the Caribbean for programs that would address education and skills training, employment, gender-based violence, migration, and humanitarian aid.

El Salvador

• GFN member Banco de Alimentos El Salvador distributes 657,000 kilograms of food and grocery product to more than 45,000 people annually.
• Today, 35% of the food banks’ partner agencies are affected by funding cuts from the United States, making it difficult for them to cover their solidarity contribution (shared maintenance, or a small fee to cover food recovery, transportation, and storage) for the food received as well as the costs to transport food from the food bank. As a result, the food bank has been covering the transportation costs of the products distributed to two of the most affected organizations.

Honduras

• GFN member Banco de Alimentos Honduras (BAH) and its network serve nearly 28,000 people annually with 1.2 million kilograms of food and grocery product.
• Twenty percent of member agencies have not been able to afford their solidarity contribution (also known as shared maintenance in the United States, or fees which offset sourcing, storage and distribution costs) and transportation. In response, BAH is distributing fruits and vegetables free of charge to organizations that face funding cuts to prevent them from closing their operations.

• Eliminating the barometer of food and nutrition security during a time when food banks are reporting increasing demand for services, a government shutdown and disruptions in SNAP service is a striking blow to tracking progress and economic trends, organizations’ ability to measure and plan for need, and mapping where need is highest. The data has been collected and analyzed since the 1990s via the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census, and it will now be incumbent upon independent institutions and researchers to pick up the slack.
• Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand and Sustainability found that food insecurity and food inflation have edged up in 2025.Through November, the national food insecurity rate has averaged 14.2%, but November saw a jump from 13.3% in October to 16%. Among SNAP recipients, the jump was even higher: up from the typical 36% to 46% in November 2025.
• Layoffs have increased in the U.S. with over 1.17 million job cuts this year as of November 2025, marking the first time in over 30 years that layoffs have exceeded 1.1 million. Experts predict that job loss will continue to rise.
• Feeding America, GFN partner and the nation’s largest hunger-relief charity, represents 200 food banks across the country. Feeding America has been on the front lines advocating for SNAP and other federal nutrition programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which provide support to farmers and ranchers as well as Americans facing hunger.