A sharp drop in global aid funding could have devastating human consequences, according to new warnings from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Preliminary data released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows official development assistance (ODA) fell by 23% from 2024 to 2025—the steepest single-year decline in decades and far worse than earlier projections. Research by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, published in The Lancet Global Health, estimates that sustained funding cuts could result in at least 9.4 million additional preventable deaths by 2030, including 2.5 million children under the age of five, across 93 low- and middle-income countries.
Calling the trend a breakdown of decades-long international cooperation, Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv J. Shahurged governments, businesses and philanthropic groups to act quickly to prevent further losses. The foundation is promoting new development models focused on country-led investments, technology and partnerships, while also backing major initiatives in energy access and school nutrition. It warned that declining contributions from major donors such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany threaten to reverse years of progress and called for renewed commitments and innovative financing to protect vulnerable populations worldwide.
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