$3.3 Billion for War, $0 for Aid
2025 was named “the worst humanitarian year on record”. 2026 is shaping up to be worse, and the world’s richest countries are choosing to look away.
In warring Sudan, people have been trying to survive on boiled leaves, animal feed and grass. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the worst cholera outbreaks in a decade spreads through a health system that doesn’t have the capacity to bear it.
Amid this backdrop, the UN counted 239 million people to be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in 2026 — nearly double the 130 million counted a decade ago.
But while the world’s humanitarian needs are among the highest in history, governments worldwide are hopping on a trend to cut foreign aid.
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In 2025, Trump’s government closed USAID, while Germany, the U.K., France and Japan — all among the world’s biggest foreign aid donors — have also cut back in a move to boost defence spending and ramp up austerity measures. For some of the world’s most vulnerable people, these cuts are fatal.
In 2024, the U.S. funded 45% of Afghanistan’s humanitarian appeal — and had been the country’s largest donor every year since 2013. This took a turn in 2025 when the Trump administration terminated its foreign assistance to Afghanistan altogether. This meant a cut of at least $1.8 billion in assistance, which effectively left millions of Afghans, especially its women and children, behind. That same year, the U.S. gave more than $3.3 billion to fund Israel’s genocide machine.
In the face of 1/3 billion people in crisis, it’s not that those who should help don’t have the money to — they don’t want to nor feel the need to. Moral bankruptcy is in demand.
So while the world faces a global solidarity crisis manufactured by governments who have chosen other priorities over human life, it seems that for now, only individual actions can help alleviate the situation at hand. Donating, voting for leaders who actually support foreign aid, and spreading the word are things each of us can do.
Even a small individual action can be meaningful during this crisis. For example, according to WFP, as little as $0.80 can be enough to feed a child for a day.
It takes very little to help, and now it is more important than ever.
