Three Children Died After USAID Cuts. The Administration Says Otherwise

The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that no children have died as a result of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). But an investigation by NPR has identified at least three children in Nigeria and Kenya whose deaths appear directly linked to the abrupt termination of USAID-funded health services, placing the administration’s denials in direct conflict with on-the-ground realities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before Congress in May 2025 that “no children are dying on my watch.” As recently as June 28 and 29 of this year, Elon Musk wrote on X that “deaths in Africa went down” after USAID cuts and that critics “cannot cite a single name” of someone who died. The NPR investigation, published July 17, 2026, names three children and provides corroborating testimony from parents and healthcare workers.

The Three Cases

Abdullahi Ibrahim, 10, of Sabon Gari, Nigeria, developed asthma at age five. His father, Ibrahim Musa, told NPR that the family relied on USAID-funded free medications and inhalers at Mucciya Primary Health Care. When USAID funding stopped, the clinic informed them the drugs were no longer free. “The cost of the medication was too much for the parents,” said Esther Agbo, a nurse at the clinic. Abdullahi died from a severe asthma attack. “If there was still help coming from USAID,” Musa said, “I’m very sure my child would still be alive today.”

Purity Wamboi, 16, of Nairobi, Kenya, began showing tuberculosis symptoms in August 2025. Her mother, Rachael Wanjiru, struggled to afford care. Community health promoters who might have caught the TB earlier through home visits had been laid off when USAID funding dried up. Tabitha Mugweru, a community health promoter and family friend, said: “Most of them stopped working when USAID withdrew their support. They could have reached Purity earlier during [a] home visit.” By the time Purity was correctly diagnosed with TB, the bacterial infection had already consumed a portion of her lungs. She died en route to the hospital.

Ibrahim Garba, 8, of central Nigeria, contracted typhoid fever in early 2025. Initial treatment was free under USAID, and he began to recover. But when the typhoid rebounded, the medications were no longer free. His father, Yakubu Garba, said the family could not afford the new round of drugs. “The day we lost him, it felt like everything stopped working,” Garba told NPR. Grace Samuel, a nurse at Zokotu Primary Health Centre, confirmed that the free medications had been discontinued after USAID’s dismantling.

Official Denials vs. Evidence

The State Department did not address the specifics of the three cases when contacted by NPR. Instead, it pointed to the administration’s new bilateral Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) as proof of continued commitment. In Kenya, the five-year MOU amounts to $2.5 billion — a 23% decrease in U.S. health funding compared to prior USAID levels. In Nigeria, the nearly $2.1 billion U.S. contribution represents a 22% decrease, according to Dr. K.J. Seung of the Health Security Policy Academy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Brooke Nichols, an infectious disease modeler and health economist at Boston University, created the Impact Counter to estimate deaths from the funding cuts. “Over the course of one year, we estimate more than 700,000 people have died from the abrupt stopping of USAID, including more than half a million children,” Nichols said. The Lancet published a study in July 2025 estimating that continued cuts could lead to 14 million deaths by 2030.

A System Dismantled

USAID, established in 1961, provided up to 40% of the world’s development aid across more than 100 countries. In January 2025, the Trump administration began systematically dismantling the agency. Elon Musk, heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stated he was “feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” The abrupt termination caused immediate disruption to health programs that had been deeply integrated into health systems across sub-Saharan Africa, funding free essential medications, community health promoter networks, HIV/AIDS treatment, and immunization programs.

The New Model and Its Critics

The administration replaced USAID’s multilateral approach with bilateral MOUs requiring co-investment from recipient countries. Critics argue the transition period created a deadly gap in services. Nichols noted: “It’s one thing to turn something off. It is something entirely different to turn something back on again. This funding could have done much more good if there was a transition from the before-times into the current MOU because we wouldn’t have had that disruption of services.”

BBC News reported in February 2025 that global health experts warned of the spread of disease and delays to vaccine development as a result of the cuts. Physicians for Human Rights documented the collapse of health systems in Kenya in July 2025.

What to Watch For

The three named cases create potential for increased congressional oversight and possible legal challenges. The broader question remains whether the new bilateral MOU model can match the old system’s effectiveness, particularly with 22-23% reductions in U.S. contributions. For the families of Abdullahi, Purity, and Ibrahim, the agreements came too late. As Yakubu Garba put it: “That delay we keep thinking about till now.”