Overview
- The State Department announced on Aug. 6 that it will allocate nearly $2 billion in overseas humanitarian and health assistance primarily through faith-based and community organizations.
- The package includes about $1.4 billion for health services to support roughly 2,500 faith-linked hospitals and clinics and to train and pay tens of thousands of local health workers.
- A World Vision-led Faith and Community Initiative is eligible for up to $850 million over five years while $538 million was earmarked for crisis response to Samaritan’s Purse and Christian consortia, with separate grants to groups such as Catholic Relief Services and funding to Gavi.
- Critics and civil-liberties groups say the awards prioritize Christian providers, risk excluding non-Christian and secular organizations, and raise constitutional and ethical questions about taxpayer-funded proselytizing and service restrictions tied to policies like the Global Gag Rule.
- The move follows the 2025 dismantling of USAID and large aid cuts and could quickly restore on-the-ground capacity in some countries while also shifting which providers deliver care and prompting legal and diplomatic scrutiny going forward.