Sharp cuts to international development and aid funding are having “direct and severe consequences” on the lives of people with disabilities, Handicap International (HI) has said.
The charity warned in a report that people with disabilities risked being particularly hard-hit amid “the sharpest aid contraction in modern history”.
The dramatic cuts have left people with disabilities facing “growing exclusion, restricted access to essential services, and threats to their survival”, it said.
The report highlighted numbers from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that official development assistance fell 23 per cent last year — the biggest drop ever recorded.
The United States has led the charge on cuts since President Donald Trump returned to power last year, but other major donors like Britain, Germany and France have also slashed aid and development budgets.
“Every budget cut has human consequences: it can deprive people of access to rehabilitation, education, health care, or the support services essential to their independence,” HI Switzerland chief Daniel Suda-Lang said in a statement.
“The international community must act and reverse this trend before its effects become irreversible.”
The report was based on a survey of 177 organizations that support people with disabilities across more than 35 countries. It found that 79 per cent of them had experienced “severe or very severe” funding cuts since early 2025.
The consequences have been immediate, it warned.
A full 72 per cent of the organizations said they had cancelled or suspended at least one program or activity and 43 per cent reported weak or very weak capacity to sustain their mission.
Fourteen per cent said they risked permanent closure if current trends continued.
HI cautioned that the aid cuts were “disproportionately affecting persons with disabilities who already face multiple forms of exclusion”.
Among the organizations surveyed, around 85 per cent said children, women and the elderly with disabilities were particularly affected.
The report highlighted that women and girls with disabilities especially face reduced access to specialised support services and increased exposure to gender-based violence.
And children are experiencing disruptions to rehabilitation, nutrition, and education services, increasing the risk of school dropout and irreversible developmental setbacks.
