By: TPA News Desk | World News | www.thepointafricanews.com/politics

The United Kingdom’s recent announcement to slash its foreign aid budget by a staggering 40% has sent ripples of concern across Africa, with officials and aid organizations warning of potentially devastating consequences for children’s education and women’s health on the continent. While London claims a strategic shift in priorities, many view the move as a retreat from global responsibilities, placing the heaviest burden on the most vulnerable.

According to a new Foreign Office report, the drastic cuts will disproportionately impact African nations. Programs vital for children’s education and women’s health, including sexual and reproductive health services, are facing significant reductions, with some areas seeing funding halved. This comes despite the UK government’s own impact assessment acknowledging that such cuts “risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths,” particularly affecting women, children, and people with disabilities. The early closure of a girls’ education program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, is projected to negatively impact 170,000 children in post-conflict rural areas.

Critics argue that this strategic re-prioritization, which also sees an increase in UK defense spending, signals a troubling shift away from humanitarian and development leadership. While the UK government maintains that funding for international organizations like the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) will be protected, and support for humanitarian hotspots such as Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine will continue, African nations are bearing the brunt of bilateral aid reductions. Ian Mitchell, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, highlighted that Africa, home to over two-thirds of those in extreme poverty, will receive less than half of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) country and regional budget.

Aid agencies on the ground are already feeling the squeeze, with many shrinking their operations. Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, a UK network for international development organizations, lamented that while consistent funding for certain crises and global vaccine initiatives is welcome, “it is clear that the government is deprioritising funding for education, gender and countries experiencing humanitarian crises such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.”

This decision by the UK, once a leading voice in global development, raises critical questions about the future of international cooperation and the immediate human cost for millions across Africa who rely on such vital support.