In the first five months of 2025, multiple major donors reduced funding, triggering a seismic contraction in global humanitarian action. The United States of America—which funded 45 per cent of the global humanitarian appeal in 2024 and up to 70 per cent some parts of the world such as Latin America and the Caribbean and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—announced a suspension and subsequent termination of many humanitarian contracts, with sudden and widespread consequences around the globe. This came on top of reductions announced or instituted by other major donors, including Germany and the United Kingdom, and on the back of a reduction in humanitarian aid from 2023 to 2024. At least 79 million people in crisis will no longer be targeted for assistance and this is likely a significant underestimate.
The dramatic reduction in humanitarian funding has meant that:
- Protection services and prevention efforts have been reduced, increasing the probability of gender-based violence (GBV), sexual violence, and child abuse, and removing access to vital services for survivors. Funding cuts for women-led organizations have hit GBV prevention and response, and protection efforts hardest. In the DRC, underfunding—combined with an upsurge in violence—means that 250,000 children will miss out on GBV prevention. In Yemen, funding suspensions have already forced 22 safe spaces to close, denying services and support to over 11,000 women and girls in high-risk areas.
- The risk of preventable disease and mortality has risen as health and water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) are curtailed. In Syria, hospitals serving over 200,000 people in Deir ez-Zor are at risk of closing in May 2025 and over 170 health facilities in the north-west of the country risk running out of funds. In Somalia, over a quarter of one NGO’s health and nutrition facilities will stop services in June 2025, affecting at least 55,000 children. In the DRC, 100,000 children are projected to miss out on measles vaccination in 2026 alone. In Afghanistan, approximately 420 health facilities have closed, denying three million people access to primary health care. In Sudan, through the South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, nearly 190,000 refugees and host households in White Nile, Kordofan and parts of Darfur risk losing access to WASH services, heightening the risk of disease outbreaks, malnutrition and protection violations, particularly for women and children.
North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
In Ngumba, a village designated as a return zone for internally displaced persons, Oxfam supported the construction of water points to help provide access to clean water for arrivals. Security and humanitarian conditions in in North and South Kivu have deteriorated since the end of 2024 due to ongoing conflict. Globally, cuts to WASH are threatening access to clean water, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
OCHA/Francis Mweze- Cuts in food rations and emergency assistance are jeopardizing the lives and wellbeing of people facing acute food insecurity. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that it may reach more than 16 million people less (21 per cent) with emergency food assistance in 2025 compared to the 80 million people assisted in 2024, with the biggest impact being felt in Yemen. Already, prior to 2025, financing for food, cash and emergency agriculture was well below what was required, from Haiti to Mali and South Sudan. In Bangladesh, one million Rohingya refugees who rely on food assistance will see their monthly food rations halved without additional funding. In Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), one in every three (60 out of 180) community kitchens had to close in just days. In Sudan, additional funding is urgently needed to procure and distribute seeds, without which, many farmers may miss this critical planting window. In Haiti, which has just entered the Atlantic Hurricane Season and where food insecurity is rampant, WFP, for the first time ever, has no prepositioned food stocks, nor the cash liquidity to mount a swift humanitarian response in the case of a hurricane.
- Malnourished children face heightened risk of severe malnutrition and death. Disruptions to nutrition support and services due to global funding cuts are expected to affect 14 million children, including more than 2.4 million who are already suffering severe acute malnutrition and at imminent risk of death. In Afghanistan, 298 nutrition sites (out of 3,455) remain closed, depriving 80,000 acutely malnourished children, pregnant women, and new mothers of treatment posing a serious risk of increased mortality.
- Maternal and infant mortality may rise, as sexual and reproductive healthcare services are cut in countries where risks are already the highest. Funding cuts have led to facility closures, loss of health workers and disruptions to supply chains for lifesaving supplies and medicines such as treatments for haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and malaria—all leading causes of maternal deaths. Severe funding cuts are reducing support for midwives in crisis settings, jeopardizing the health and lives of pregnant women and newborns in some of the most fragile places on earth.
- Children are losing access to their future, as access to education diminishes. More than 1.8 million children will miss out on learning due to aid cuts impacting one NGO’s education programmes in over 20 countries.
- Lack of shelter is leaving millions of people exposed to the elements and violence. In some of the world’s biggest crises—including Sudan and DRC—distribution of emergency shelters is at risk of being cut. In Chad, Colombia and Uganda, families face protracted displacement with no shelter assistance on the horizon
- Cash and voucher assistance (CVA)—including multi-purpose/unrestricted cash—has been drastically reduced in multiple countries. CVA is projected to drop precipitously in 2025, after already decreasing in 2024 as a proportion of humanitarian assistance. In Ukraine, cash assistance for people fleeing the frontlines was reduced due to funding cuts.
- The agency said it had had to reduce the reach of some programmes that it had previously implemented with U.S. support, including the psycho-social support that is needed on a huge scale, as well as material for emergency shelters, and cash assistance. "We have had to put some of these partially on hold or we are prudent in the way we are implementing, because of course we cannot spend more than what we have mobilised funding for," Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine, told reporters via a videolink.
- Services for refugees are being jeopardized. In Rwanda, under the DRC regional refugee plan (RRP), cash assistance for food decreased by 50 per cent. In Uganda, moderately vulnerable refugees (82 per cent of the settlement refugee population) have had their food rations reduced to approximately a quarter of the full amount. In Libya, under the Sudan RRP, 4,500 refugees may lose access to psychosocial support services without funding. In Hungary, under the Ukraine RRP, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will not enroll any new refugees with severe disabilities into the cash support programme. In Lebanon, through the Syria 3RP, tens of thousands of vulnerable families risk being left without multipurpose cash assistance to meet their basic needs despite a highly prioritized plan.
Maga, Cameroon
Mobile health clinics provide essential care and nutrition services to flood-affected communities in the far north of the country. Many of these clinics, in Cameroon and globally, are run by local and national NGOs who are bearing the brunt of funding cuts to aid. The impact will be felt twice: by affected people and communities who will lose services and by aid workers who lose their jobs.
OCHA/Bibiane MouangueAround the world, budget cuts are forcing humanitarian partners to reduce operations, presence and services. At least 12,000 humanitarian staff contracts have been cut and at least 22 organizations have had to completely close their offices in the relevant countries. National NGOs have reported the highest proportion of terminations, with higher rates for women- and refugee-led organizations. Separately, almost half (47 per cent) of women-led organizations surveyed are expecting to shut down within six months, if current funding levels persist, and almost three-quarters (72 per cent) report having been forced to lay off staff. Funding cuts have also affected humanitarian programmes for persons with disabilities: 76 per cent of survey respondents reported an impact on humanitarian programmes on disability inclusion, 81 per cent reported an impact on the delivery of assistance to address basic needs and 95 per cent reported an impact on work to address barriers faced by persons with disabilities to access humanitarian assistance. Coordination remains essential in hyper-prioritized humanitarian action: it ensures principled response, strategic focus, equitable targeting, avoiding duplication of efforts and the efficient use of every dollar. Yet Coordination Cluster teams have been a hit with staff reductions, undermining response effectiveness.
As of 10 June 2025, only 12 per cent of funding required under the 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview has been received. Without urgent additional support and financial backing, humanitarian partners will be unable to reach even people with the most life-threatening needs.
And yet, this devastating underfunding of humanitarian action comes amid an exponential rise in military expenditure. In 2024, military expenditure reached over $2.7 trillion in 2024; more than 100 times the amount galvanized for humanitarian appeals globally ($24.91 billion). This was the steepest year-on-year rise in military expenditure since at least the end of the Cold War, with European military expenditure accounting for the main increase.
