--- title: Starvation Spreads in Sudan After USAID Is Dismantled description: After war destroyed the economy, the Sudanese people were taking care of one another. But they need outsiders to provide food. canonical: https://time.com/7262044/usaid-sudan-starvation-humanitarian-crisis/ author: Hanin Ahmed article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-02-27T14:38:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:09.221Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Starvation Spreads in Sudan After USAID Is Dismantled og:description: The grassroots effort was feeding civilians, but 500 soup kitchens shut down when aid ceased, an activist writes. og:url: https://time.com/7262044/usaid-sudan-starvation-humanitarian-crisis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe0be07ad7a63029/6998c46fa97fc065dea741bb/trump-usaid-sudan-emergency-response-rooms.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: trump-usaid-sudan-emergency-response-rooms og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Starvation Spreads in Sudan After USAID Is Dismantled twitter:description: The grassroots effort was feeding civilians, but 500 soup kitchens shut down when aid ceased, an activist writes. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe0be07ad7a63029/6998c46fa97fc065dea741bb/trump-usaid-sudan-emergency-response-rooms.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Without USAID, My Neighbors in Sudan are Starving > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: U.S. Aid Funding Pause Leaves Millions 'In Jeopardy,' U.N. Agency Says [Watch (HLS stream): U.S. Aid Funding Pause Leaves Millions 'In Jeopardy,' U.N. Agency Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MGz6VqAr.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2025-02-04. UN agencies gave a dire assessment on Tuesday about the global impact of deep cuts to international aid by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader._ by [Hanin Ahmed](https://time.com/author/hanin-ahmed/) ## Hanin Ahmed Feb 27, 2025 2:38 PM UTC  Tigrayan refugees collect food rations from USAID at Hamdeyat Transition Center near the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Eastern Sudan on Mar. 24, 2021\. After Sudan was plunged into its own intramural war, the U.S. Agency for International Development supplied food to the grassroots self-help effort known as Emergency Response Rooms. In January, President Donald Trump ordered the aid stopped. Tigrayan refugees collect food rations from USAID at Hamdeyat Transition Center near the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Eastern Sudan on Mar. 24, 2021\. After Sudan was plunged into its own intramural war, the U.S. Agency for International Development supplied food to the grassroots self-help effort known as Emergency Response Rooms. In January, President Donald Trump ordered the aid stopped. Nariman El-Mofty—AP by [Hanin Ahmed](https://time.com/author/hanin-ahmed/) ## Hanin Ahmed Feb 27, 2025 2:38 PM UTC When I was forced to leave my home near Khartoum, I went first to northern Sudan as a displaced person, then to Cairo as a refugee, and then to the United States of America. In this country, I breathed the true meaning of tolerance, freedom, and acceptance of others. The things the people of Sudan demanded when we gathered for [peaceful protests](https://time.com/5511724/sudan-uprising-omar-al-bashir/) that drove out military rulers in 2022—freedom, peace and justice—are the things I have seen in America. I do not like living abroad, but I love the American people. During the year I have spent here, I learned a lot from them and they enrich my soul. Until last month, the American people also saved many lives in my country. Because of President Donald Trump's decision to freeze aid provided the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), that is no longer the case. The problem in Sudan is that generals [grabbed power back](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59035053)from civilians, then [went to war with one another](https://time.com/6275229/how-the-international-community-failed-sudan/). The fighting has destroyed the economy and kept farmers out of their fields. It also forced me out of my homeland**.** But before leaving, I helped establish the people’s response to the war—community centers, where people could find food at communal kitchens, or counseling, or first aid. Started by a youth network in Khartoum State, these “[emergency response rooms](https://time.com/7204654/sudan-humanitarianism-crisis-err-aid/)” (ERRs) spread to all parts of my beloved Sudan. The ERRshave saved the lives of millions. During two years of war, I learned a lot from my comrades in Darfur, West Kordofan, the Nile River, Al-Jazeera, Kassala, Sennar, and Al-Gedaref. The world learned, too. With more than 30 million people in need of aid to survive, Sudan is considered by many to bethe[ world’s worst humanitarian disaster.](https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160161#:~:text=The%20UN%20refugee%20agency%2C%20UNHCR,limited%20access%20to%20essential%20services.) However, international aid groups do not dare to operate inside the country. By doing the work themselves, Sudan’s people have set[ a unique example](https://time.com/7204654/sudan-humanitarianism-crisis-err-aid/) for humanitarian work. **Read more:**[_Locals in Sudan Are Saving Lives That International Aid Agencies Can’t Reach_](https://time.com/7204654/sudan-humanitarianism-crisis-err-aid/) But as we say in the Sudanese proverb**,** "no condition is permanent." Though Sudanese volunteers have assumed all of the risk of saving their people, we need help buying food. In January, all humanitarian aid provided by the USAID stopped [on the order](https://time.com/7213288/what-is-usaid-what-impact-does-it-have-across-the-globe/) of the new Trump Administration. With that stoppage, [hundreds](http://bbc.com/news/articles/cy7x87ev5jyo) of soup kitchens in Sudan were forced to close. Now, many people in Sudan have nowhere else to get food. Famine is expanding, and people are dying every day in parts of Khartoum and in Darfur in western Sudan. Cholera has broken out in West Nile state. The volunteer coordinatorfor West Kordofan, which is in the south of the country, tells me that his community is in a state of famine and that hungry people come to the emergency rooms hoping for food that is no longer there. Asked to measure the health of West Kordofan, he says that the situation is at a “zero.” He recalls how his team managed to keep one dialysis machine working for a while, but it had to be shut down to conserve energy. In West Kordofan, female health services no longer exist. Across the whole of Sudan, women who have fled their homes no longer receive the hygiene packs known as "dignity kits." Many people are physically vulnerable. In Al-Jazeera state, there is an urgent need to resettle people who have been displaced. Civilian camps in Tawil Zamzam and Jafls Al Lamat have come under attack, but the Grassroots Coordination Council started by our network of ERRs is struggling to respond to a flood of emergencies. We have no means to evacuate 35 volunteers and over 400 families who are in immediate danger. The ERRs were Sudanese society stepping up to care for the people their government had abandoned. They have been a spark of light which illuminated the darkness of war. Unfortunately, this spark is being extinguished. All of us volunteers and organizers are all in a very bad psychological state because we see hope in people’s eyes and their trust in us—but we do no longer have much in our hands to offer them. ## Transcript On 24th January, the US administration paused nearly all US foreign aid programs pending a 90 day review. In response, UNFPA has suspended services funded by US grants that provide a lifeline for women and girls in crises, including in South Asia. The letters that we received are similar to what other UN agencies have received, and we are, like I mentioned earlier, engaging, trying to find more clarity from the US government and hope to get more details in particular as to why our programs are being impacted, particularly those which we would hope would be exempt. Um, under the humanitarian rubric. If I just take the example of Afghanistan between 2025 and 2028, we estimate that the absence of US support will result in 1200 additional maternal deaths and 109,000 additional unintended pregnancies. What happens when our work is not funded? Women give birth alone in unsanitary conditions. The risk of obstetric fistula is heightened. Newborns die from preventable causes. Survivors of gender based violence have nowhere to turn for medical or psychological support. We hope that the United States government will retain its position as a global leader in development, and continue to work with UNFPA to alleviate the suffering of women and their families as a result of catastrophes they did not cause. Some 47% of the global humanitarian appeal across the world last year, 47% of that was funded through the US government. That gives you an indication of how much it matters when we are in the situation we are in right now, with the messaging we are getting from from the government. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7262044/usaid-sudan-starvation-humanitarian-crisis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7262044/usaid-sudan-starvation-humanitarian-crisis/"},"headline":"Without USAID, My Neighbors in Sudan are Starving","datePublished":"2025-02-27T14:38:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:09.221Z","description":"As armed factions crippled the economy, civilians created a massive grassroots network to feed people. 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