Overview
- The Associated Press published on July 23 first-hand reporting from Hetauda showing 15 former aid workers, many LGBTQ+ and transgender, have turned to sex work after losing NGO jobs tied to U.S. aid.
- President Trump’s decision last year to dissolve USAID is linked to the elimination of roughly 280,000 humanitarian posts worldwide and an estimated 35,000 job losses in Nepal, local leaders say.
- The Blue Diamond Society reports it lost about 85% of its funding, leaving 262 of 350 staff without work and more than 1,200 clients without access to PrEP and other HIV-prevention services.
- Former aid workers describe widespread violence, including assaults and gang rape, frequent police harassment, forced unprotected sex for pay, and repeated job rejections when employers learn they are transgender.
- The U.S. State Department defended a shift in assistance toward efficiency and partnership, while conservative commentators seized on the coverage to defend the cuts and public-health officials warned of possible increases in HIV transmission across the region.