"A bad calculation" : NGOs denounce the drastic drop in international aid and its immediate consequences

The decline in development aid is weakening the entire global health chain, denounce humanitarian organizations and international bodies. France, by reducing its development aid by almost 40% in its 2026 budget, is contributing to the deterioration of the global health system. The Ebola epidemic currently raging in the DRC is a reminder of this. The African Health Agency has even said it: the reduction in aid has contributed to the weakening of the surveillance chain and has favored the progression of the disease.

On the front line facing these budget cuts are the NGOs who must manage crises and make choices. The observation is implacable: what is taken from one side must often be given back from the other. The associations had warned and alerted, without success, about the danger of cutting development aid. It only took a few months to confirm the fears.

Because refusing to pay at the start sometimes means paying more on arrival. “I think there is a bad calculation which consists of cutting aid for international solidarity, particularly in healthdefends Élise Rodrigues, of the NGO Global Health Action. Because it helps save lives in low-income countries, but it also helps preserve health security for all.”

“For us, the example of Ebola and what is happening today in the Democratic Republic of Congo is quite revealing.”

Élise Rodrigues, from the NGO Global Health Action

à franceinfo

Miscalculation of politicians who think of spending less, and who weaken the whole of global solidarity. “When this funding disappears, the consequences are immediate: fewer personnel in the field, less laboratory capacity, delays in diagnoses and in prevention campaigns. And also delays in the capacity to detect epidemic outbreaks”details Élise Rodrigues.

Several studies have estimated that the reduction in international aid could cost the lives of nearly 23 million people by 2030.