When President Trump issued Executive Orders to pause all foreign aid funding, it was another situation in which people were either thrilled or devastated. There wasn’t much in between. Some Evangelical groups claimed that people would die as a result of pausing the funding because the U.S. was a significant source that provided funds for medical care and medications. Others wanted an audit done to make sure that funds were being used properly.
Some groups have been urging President Trump to be more subjective in what cuts are made and which groups can continue to receive grants. The pauses in grants from the U.S. have meant that some work in struggling areas has been halted, but since there are still funds coming in via churches, individuals, and other private donors, humanitarian organizations have been able to carry on at a limited capacity, according to Premier Christian News.
Not only is the pause in funds impacting the efforts of humanitarian organizations for medical care in various countries, it is also impacting efforts to assist refugees and resettlement programs. As a result, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is suing President Trump in connection to his Executive Order to cut refugee aid, according to Premier Christian News.
USAID and PEPFAR Audits
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been around since 1961, and was originally created with the intent of responding to humanitarian crises and emergencies. It was also a primary contributor for the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Unfortunately, over its decades of existence, it has been suspected of having issues of fraud, waste and abuse. So President Trump asked DOGE to audit it, and Trump also wanted to make sure that the organization and all organizations under it were in alignment with the goals of his Administration.
UN’s Efforts Towards Humanitarian Relief and Foreign Aid
USAID and PEPFAR are not the only ones working on a global scale in connection to foreign aid and humanitarian relief efforts. The UN is also involved in such efforts. One organization, in particular, involves 11 countries. It is called UNAIDS, according to its website.
As mainstream media began to challenge DOGE about releasing information it had found in regard to waste, fraud, and abuse, one of the areas that received a great deal of attention from mainstream media was an alleged expenditure of $50 million in condoms for Gaza. This claim was later corrected by Elon Musk, according to the Times of Israel.
However, there is a document published by USAID that shows condom shipments to Africa and various other locations globally. There’s apparently a shortage of information in Africa regarding sexual and reproductive health and the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to PRB. While multiple sexual partners are being recognized as the primary reason for the high prevalence of HIV in most of Africa, according to the African Journal of Reproductive Health, making condoms easily accessible seems to be the overall way that prevention is being handled.
Faith-Based Groups Teach Abstinence as Alternative
At the same time, there are faith-based groups that are opposing the use of condoms and promoting the alternative of abstinence among singles and fidelity among married couples. One of their big challenges, though, is the easy accessibility of condoms.
“We hold meetings with the youth every Saturday evening. We preach abstinence as a way of preventing HIV/AIDS, which is killing many in this region,” Fr. John Ojwang, a young assistant priest in charge of the youth at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, told National Catholic Reporter. “But when they go out, they meet officials from the health sector and people like ex-nun Caroline Osogo dishing out condoms. They have condom dispensers in every corner of the town.”
Back in the 1990s, a movement called “True Love Waits” was started, and it actually made its way overseas a little over a decade later. Leaders in Uganda credited it for a significant decrease in HIV/AIDS infections. The rate dropped from 30 percent of the population to about 6 percent, according to the Baptist Press.
Conservative believers and churches have been supporters of abstinence since the Christian church’s early days. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.“
Related Article: 5 Christian Groups Respond to Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze
Photo Credit: ©RNS/U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Andres Alcaraz/Creative Commons
Originally published March 19, 2025.
