Bangkok, Thailand – At the end of January, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Cambodia HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance, unexpectedly informed that all the funds for their tuberculosis program had been put on waiting for 90 days.
Khan, since non -governmental organizations are known each year, reveals about 10,000 cases of tuberculosis (TB), providing preventative treatment of about 10,000 close contacts and medical care for about 300 rural patients, said CHOUB S
With the drying of funds, many village Cambodia will soon lose their care, Chamreun said.
“Within the suspension, these people will have the interruption of the service because we have been asked to stop working from us,” said Chamreun Al Jazeera of Phnom Penh.
“We expect these people to have services and they could lose their monitoring because of their TB treatment.”
“Normally … they get support for treatment, support for mental health and regular monitoring because [they] They live in rural communities, so they depend very much on the support of our community health care workers, “he added.
Khan is just one of the many charities and non -profit organizations across Southeast Asia who are afraid for her work, while US President Donald Trump starts effectively abolishing USAID under the radical cost of costs led by the technological billionaire Elon Musk.
As the world’s largest single humanitarian aid provider, USAID awarded only $ 860 million only to the region last year. The agency operates in six of the 11 countries of Southeast Asia – Cambodia, Laos, Mjanmar, Filipina, Thailand and Vietnam.
Economic development levels are significantly varying throughout the region, which is home to almost 700 million people.
While Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of about $ 85,000, nations like Cambodia, Laos and Mjanmar lie in or around the bottom of the economy and rely on the side of help.
USAID projects support health care, economic development, humanitarian aid, education and support for “democracy, human rights and management”, according to the archived page from the now uninvited website of the Agency.
Many of these projects are managed through small non -governmental organizations that work with local communities, such as Khan.
Many, if not all, and help is now on a chopped block such as Trump and Musk, who called USAID “criminal organization”, work to remove the agency at lightning speed.
From Friday, all direct rent or constant USAID staff must be placed on administrative leave and have 30 days to return to the US if they are stationed abroad.
More media outlets have reported that Trump plans to retain less than 300 of about 10,000 workers agency to launch a skeletal version of the Agency, currently led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the scripture.
The critics slammed the crowds of the agency to executive actions as unconstitutionally because the US Congress closed the status of USAID as an independent body.
The staff of the NGOs in Thailand working with Mjanmar refugees said the organization has already closed most of its health centers.
The staff, who requested not to be appointed, said that the non-profit organization combined its work on only two centers, releasing patients in stable condition and using limited funds that are not in the US to transfer critical patients to Thai hospital.
While the organization will continue to treat tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, and a small number of patients in the home, many of his surgery had to take over Thailand, said a member of the staff.
Refugee camps along Thailand-Myanmar are largely dependent on the financing of the US government, and some like the Mae Lae refugee camp told Al Jazeera that they only had a few weeks of food left.
Emilie Palamy Pradichit, director of Manushy’s Foundation, based in Bangkok, who describes her mission as an improvement of human rights and social justice, painted a gloomy picture of the situation in Thailand.
“We have 35 activists and their families facing transnational repression, relying on our fast reaction fund since January,” Pradichit told Al Jazeera.
“We have by the end of the month, and if we do not get these funds, we will not be able to keep them in these safe houses … We put them in danger.”
“This is the end of the development help as we know it,” Pradichit said.
Pradichit’s pessimism was shared by a USAID employee who had previously worked in Southeast Asia.
“All implementing partners [contractors and NGOs] are without a term because there is no data. Everything that was received was stopping a work order and there was no monitoring. Smaller performers or non -governmental organizations go, “the USAID employee told Al Jazeera, asking that he is not named for fear of professional consequences.
“The assumption is currently this 90-day [suspension] Not real. They bleed the programs dry because, according to USAID regulation, for the non -governmental organization, you do not allow you to have more than 30 days of financing reserve, “said the employee, explaining the provision that the organizations must follow in order to obtain USAID support.
Some members of the community of non -governmental organizations and even some supporters of USAIDs have admitted that the agency needs reform to improve their business and efficiency, but they say that the exclusion of the agency is not an answer.
“Some things that have been musk and ruins have said they are correct. They are [USAID] Get so much money … but local organizations get crumbs, “said a non -governmental organization employee based in Thailand, who asked not to be named, he told Al Jazeera.
“Much does not lead to the front line. They [USAID] are strong instruments for development, but they need reforms. But the way they close is clumsy and harmful because those who need [funding] Most are small non -governmental organizations. “
“The influences will be felt for a while and some will be irreparable,” the employee added.
Phin Savey, Secretary General of the Cambodian Association for Human Rights and Development, the oldest Human Rights Organization in Cambodia, said many of his programs may have to be suspended until he finds alternative sources of financing.
“Without USAID, we want to continue working, but for most activities we need a budget,” Savey told Al Jazeera.
“Activities we can do without money can only monitor the situation of human rights violation, grabies of land or political rights [violations]. “
