‘People who spent years saving lives are now struggling to survive’ – how we witnessed Trump’s USAID cuts devastate health programmes in Kenya

Homabay, Kenya, in February 2025. Rachael Eastham, CC BY

My phone wouldn’t stop ringing – nurses, social workers, young mothers – all begging for help. ‘I’ve lost my job,’ ‘I have no food,’ ‘What do we do now?’ I felt helpless.

These are the words of Rogers Omollo, founder and CEO of Activate Action – a youth-led non-profit organisation that supports young people with HIV and disabilities in Homa Bay, a town in west Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria.