Bangkok, Thailand – At the end of January, Cambodia’s Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance was unexpectedly notified by the US Organization for International Development (USAID) that all funding for the tuberculosis program was pending for 90 days.
Khana detects about 10,000 tuberculosis (TB) cases each year, provides preventive treatment for around 10,000 close contacts, and has led to around 300 rural patients as NGOs are more commonly known. Provides medical care.
With funds running out, many rural Cambodians will soon lose their care, Chamleon said.
“In the suspension period, these people will be asked to stop work, and will receive a service interruption,” Shamleong told Al Jazeera in Phnom Penh.
“We expect these people to have no services and we may lose follow-up to TB treatment.”
“Usually… they get treatment, mental health support, and regular follow-up support. [they] As we live in rural communities, they rely heavily on the support of our community’s healthcare workers,” he added.
Khana is just one of many charities and nonprofits in Southeast Asia, and President Donald Trump effectively eliminates USAID under a radical cost-cutting drive led by tech billionaire Elon Musk They are fearing their work because they are moving.
As the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance, USAID allocated $860 million last year to the region alone. The agency operates in six countries in 11 Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The level of economic development varies considerably across the region, with about 700 million people living there.
Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) of around $85,000, but countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are located in or around the quartile of the economy and are foreign aid It is highly dependent on.
According to an archived page on the agency’s currently determined website, the USAID Project supports healthcare, economic development, humanitarian assistance, education, and assistance in “democracy, human rights and governance.”
Many of these projects are managed through small NGOs working with local communities such as Khana.
That support, if not all, is now in the chopping block as Trump and Musk, who called USAID a “crime organisation,” are now working to dismantle agents at the speed of lightning.
As of Friday, all direct-employed or permanent USAID staff will be placed on a 30-day administrative leave to return to the United States if stationed abroad.
Multiple media outlets plan to run a skeletal version where Trump maintains less than 300 of the agency’s roughly 10,000 workers and is led by current Secretary of State Marco Rubio in acting ability. He reports.
Critics have accused the institutions of guting through enforcement actions, saying that the status of USAID as an independent institution was engraved in the law by the US Congress and therefore unconstitutional.
Staff from a Thai NGO working with Myanmar refugees said the organization has already closed most of its medical centres.
Staff who asked not to name the nonprofit would merge its work into two centres, releasing patients in stable condition, and using limited non-US funds to create important patients in Thailand Hospital He said he would move to.
The organization continues to treat tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and a small number of patients in-house, but staff said many of the surgeries will need to be passed on to the Thai government.
Refugee camps along Taimyanmar are heavily dependent on US government funding, and people like May-le refugee camps have said that weeks of food remained in Al Jazeera.
Emily Paramie Pradichit, director of the Bangkok-based Manushiya Foundation, described its mission as promoting human rights and social justice, drawing a harsh picture of the situation in Thailand.
“We have been facing cross-border oppression since January with 35 activists and their families relying on our rapid response fund,” Pradichit told Al Jazeera.
“We have it until the end of the month. If we don’t receive these funds, we can’t keep them in those safe homes… we’re putting them at risk.”
“This is the end of development assistance, as we know,” Pradichit said.
Pradichit’s pessimism was shared by USAID employees who previously worked in Southeast Asia.
“All Implementation Partners [contractors and NGOs] I’m ignorant because I don’t have any information. All that was received was an order for stopping work, and there was no follow-up. USAID employees told Al Jazeera, asking them not to be named because of fear of occupational impact.
“The assumption is now 90 days [suspension] It’s not the real thing. NGOs are not allowed to raise funds for more than 30 days due to each USAID regulations, and the program is dry. .
Some members of the NGO community, and even USAID supporters, have acknowledged that agencies need reforms to improve operations and efficiency, but say closing agencies is not the answer Masu.
“Some of what Musk and Rubio said are correct. They [USAID] Employees from a Thailand-based NGO asked not to name them.
“Many haven’t reached the front line. They [USAID] It is a powerful tool for development, but requires reform. But the way they’re shutting down is clumsy and harmful [funding] It is the least NGO. ”
“The impact will be felt for a while and some will be irreversible,” the employee added.
Finn Savey, executive director of the Cambodia Human Rights Development Association, Cambodia’s oldest human rights organization, said many of its programs may need to be suspended until alternative sources of funding can be found.
“Without USAID, we want to continue working, but most activities require a budget,” Savey told Al Jazeera.
“The activities we can do without money are to monitor the situation of human rights violations, land grabs, or political rights. [violations]. ”
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