In war-ravaged Sudan, the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have triggered deadly consequences, as doctors, aid workers, and grieving families report a wave of preventable deaths due to halted medical and food assistance, The Washington Post revealed in an extensive field report.

One Child Survives, Another Dies Waiting for Medicine

In Quaz Nafisa, a 3-year-old boy named Omran died from a treatable chest infection after his mother carried him to 11 health centers, all without medicine. His twin brother, Marwan, survived. The clinic meant to treat them had its supply pipeline cut when USAID froze funding in early 2025. “He was just in my arms whimpering, ‘I’m so sick, Mom,’” said Islam al Mubarak, Omran’s mother.

Kitchens Closed, Children Starved

Outside Omdurman, Fatma Swak Fadul lost two of her children after soup kitchens—funded 77% by USAID—shut down overnight. Her son Omer, aged 3, went blind from malnutrition and died in March after days of hunger. “Sometimes I boiled water and told them I was cooking,” she said, trying to keep her children calm before they fell asleep hungry.

Lifesaving Supplies Stuck in U.S. Warehouses

A peanut-based nutritional supplement, Plumpy’Nut, paid for by U.S. funds, sat idle in a Rhode Island warehouse for months due to canceled shipment contracts. While UNICEF now delivers limited aid, doctors say many children are too malnourished to digest normal food and urgently need high-calorie supplements.

Cholera Spreads as Clinics Collapse

RSF drone attacks knocked out Khartoum’s water infrastructure, sparking a cholera outbreak. WHO says USAID-funded response systems are gone, with 60% of needed supplies missing. At a mosque-turned-clinic in Omdurman, elderly patients now receive IV fluids hung from windows.

Local activists like Momen, a former pro-democracy protester, now deliver chlorine tablets by bicycle. “When support was coming from USAID, we were able to respond quickly,” he said. “Now we improvise.”

UN and Local Officials Sound Alarm

UNICEF warns it could run out of nutrition packets within months. The WHO says the cholera response is nearly unworkable without U.S. support. “We have been forced into a triage of human survival,” said Tom Fletcher, a top UN coordinator.

In the absence of U.S. aid, Sudanese volunteers and diaspora groups scramble to fill the void. But for families who lost loved ones, the help has come too late.