AMIDST the confusion in the United States surrounding President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze US-funded aid programmes around the world, some being implemented by the Jamaican Government are on hold, while several non-governmental organisations are on tenterhooks.

“Several of these organisations receive financial support from the US on a monthly basis for projects which are now stalled or on the verge of being shut down as they await the final decision from the Trump Administration,” said one Government source.

“This is really worrying time as US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides the bulk of the support to the Jamaican Government and local NGOs, has been ordered to freeze funding to all projects leaving us in limbo,” added the source.

The Government is reportedly still calculating the possible fallout from the freeze with Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton telling the Jamaica Observer that the Administration expects to see an impact, particularly in areas such as HIV response.

It was a similar response from Minister of Information Senator Dana Morris Dixon, who told a post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday that the aid freeze and the ramped up deportation by the Trump Administration are being examined by the Government.

“We have not been ignorant of them. We have been looking at them, we have been assessing them, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in constant dialogue with our US partners, as we always have, and the minister [Kamina Johnson Smith] will be giving further updates in very short order.

“But please rest assured that, up to the level of the National Security Council, we have been looking at these matters and developing positions in relation to them,” said Morris Dixon as she promised that the nation will be kept updated. But even as the Government prepares its response, checks by the Observer revealed that the fallout could be crippling for several local programmes designed to assist the most vulnerable Jamaicans, including those living with HIV/AIDS.

In its Economic and Social Survey for 2023 the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) reported that assistance from the US, channelled primarily through USAID, comprised grants in the amount US$99.5 million (approximately $15.4 billion) for 12 initiatives.

“The cooperation programme focused mainly on the social infrastructure sector with funding of US$94.5 million ($14.6 billion) while the remaining funds were allocated to the administrative US$1.0 million ($155.0 million) and the environment and climate change sector in the amount of US$4.0 million ($620.0 million),” said the PIOJ whose 2024 survey is not yet available.

“Disbursements totalled US$12.9 million ($2.0 billion), a decrease of 37.7 per cent compared with the previous year [2022]. The removal of COVID-19 projects which ended in the previous year led to this decrease,” added the PIOJ.

According to the PIOJ, USAID-approved grant funding of US$15 million ($2.3 billion) for the Youth Empower project that aims to address the risk and resilience factors that influence Jamaican youth’s participation in crime and violence, while funding of US$10.0 million ($1.5 billion) was provided for the Supporting Victims of Violence project.

The four-year Victims of Violence project seeks to increase awareness of and access to trauma-informed services for survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators of violence and strengthen the capacity of the Government, NGOs, and civil society organisations to provide quality support services and to foster coordination in hotspot communities.

The PIOJ further reported that USAID provided financial support to ongoing projects, including Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) — the island’s leading NGO assisting the most vulnerable Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS — in the amount of US$8 million ($1.2 billion), while Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EPIC) received US$4.4 million ($682 million).

Trump ordered the 90-day freeze last week to give his Administration time to review which of the thousands of humanitarian, development and security programmes around the world will keep getting money from the US.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who initially exempted only emergency food programmes and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the pause, agreed to at least temporarily keep spending money on humanitarian programmes that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.

While some in the aid community expressed hope Rubio’s move would rescue more of the programmes that keep alive refugees, the gravely ill, and others around the world, there was increasing concerns as US-funded operations of all kinds stepped up the pace of lay-offs, furloughs and programme shutdowns.

The United States is the world’s largest source of foreign assistance by far, although other countries give a bigger share of their budgets. It provides four out of every $10 donated for humanitarian aid.

On its website USAID says it supports the Jamaican people through promoting community safety and security; widening access to quality basic education; increasing resiliency of targeted sectors to global climate change; and working to reduce the prevalence of HIV among key populations.

“USAID takes an integrated approach that creates opportunities for secure livelihoods through a more cohesive, just, and healthy environment,” the agency said.

“More specifically, USAID’s activities focus on:

1) Improving basic education and health among targeted populations;

2) Increasing security, building social cohesion, and strengthening resilience among targeted rural and urban communities and environments through training and technical assistance for targeted government and civil society partners;

3) Piloting and demonstrating integrated climate change adaptation and/or mitigation activities; and improved access to and quality of data and information management to inform decision-making.

In the meantime, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday expressed concern about the implications of the immediate funding pause for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries such as Jamaica.

The WHO noted that these programmes provide access to life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide.

“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries.

“Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America,” added the WHO.

US policy, for decades, has been that aid given abroad pays for itself through greater national security, by stabilising regions and economies and improving relations with partners.

But many Trump Administration officials and Republican lawmakers believe much foreign assistance is money that should be spent or saved at home.