The Dictatorship
Somalia’s crumbling hospitals show the toll of aid cuts and war
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — To save the life of his badly malnourished 3-year-old son, farmer Yusuf Bulle had to travel from a remote area of southern Somalia to the capital, Mogadishu, where a rare health unit presented the only hope.
After 15 days at Banadir Hospital, the child was deemed out of danger.
“Where I come from, there is no hospital,” Bulle said. “That’s why I am here.”
One of the world’s poorest countries faces a crisis of health care exacerbated by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development this year. The loss of USAID funding has disheartened many Somalis who believe they can’t depend on their own government, which focuses mostly on defeating the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab.
Somalia’s deputy health minister, Mohamed Hassan Bulaale, told The Associated Press that the U.S. cuts led to over 6,000 health workers losing their jobs while up to 2,000 health facilities were affected — a massive hit in a country that the Center for Global Development this year said was among the world’s most likely to suffer as donors draw back.
Bomb and gun attacks by the militants — including against health centers — have reduced in frequency and intensity in recent months, leading some to see success in President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s “total war” against al-Shabab.
But hospital administrators, civic leaders and others say the latest push to defeat al-Shabab has come at the expense of health care and other public services.
Relying on outside money
Somalia’s Ministry of Health was allocated $91 million of a national budget exceeding $1 billion this year, with those funds tied mostly to projects backed by outside groups. That’s a significant improvement from last year’s $52 million, but almost all of that increase came from donors, said Mahad Wasuge, who runs the Somali Public Agenda think tank.
And as the United States has shown, donor money comes and goes.
Even with major setbacks in overall foreign support this year, including from other key benefactors such as Britain, “security remains the first priority” for Somali authorities, Wasuge told the AP.
Many areas outside Mogadishu don’t have functioning public hospitals, he said, with people forced to trek through often insecure areas to receive care at the ones still functional.
Such facilities in the capital include Banadir Hospital, built with Chinese support in 1977, and De Martino Hospital, established in 1922 by Italian colonialists.
During an AP visit, officials at those hospitals said much of their work would stop without assistance from the United Nations and international groups.
Even at Banadir, Mogadishu’s main public referral hospital, expectations of the Somali government aren’t high. The unit looking after malnourished children depends entirely on donor funds channeled through the humanitarian group Concern Worldwide, said supervisor Dr. Mohamed Haashi.
After 37 people employed in the unit lost their jobs with this year’s U.S. aid cuts, Concern Worldwide still pays the salaries of 13 others in addition to milk and food for mothers and babies, Haashi said.
‘Donors are fatigued’
At De Martino Hospital, director Dr. Abdirahim Omar Amin said he worries what will happen when contracts with two other humanitarian groups expire at the end of 2025.
The hospital was looking after dozens of children suffering from diphtheria, an infectious disease of the throat preventable by vaccination but now spreading in rural areas. Parents are not taking their kids for routine vaccinations because they are afraid of militant attacks, Amin said.
In the medical lab, Amin pointed to the equipment and said everything was acquired with donor funds.
“Now it looks like donors are fatigued,” he said.
Most services at the hospital are provided free of charge, thanks largely to funding from the International Rescue Committee and Population Services International. Patients with conditions not deemed urgent are asked to cover some costs.
“The Ministry of Health is supposed to give support to this hospital because this hospital belongs to the Ministry of Health,” Amin said. “I hope, even if (the humanitarian groups) left, the Ministry of Health will replace their position.”
Bulaale, the deputy health minister, said the government is working with some partners in “developing a contingency plan” after the loss of USAID funding. He didn’t elaborate.
In some ways, De Martino Hospital’s history mirrors Somalia’s scars. It once sheltered displaced people after the fall in 1991 of Siad Barre, a dictator whose removal triggered fighting by warlords from different clans. Many public facilities across Somalia were destroyed in years of civil war.
Somalia’s federal government, now based in a heavily fortified area near the airport in Mogadishu, struggles to assert itself despite support from African Union peacekeepers, U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Shabab and security consultants from nations jockeying for influence in a country with strategic access to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
The countries include Turkey, which bankrolls a hospital with intensive care capabilities in Mogadishu.
“Even the limited number of public hospitals that started functioning properly lately are heavily dependent on donor money,” said Wasuge, the civic leader. “They don’t get direct government budget that allows them to provide better health care services.”
‘No national health care plan’
The Banadir and De Martino hospitals are where the most needy people are referred for care. De Martino, Mogadishu’s main referral hospital for COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, receives the “most vulnerable” wherever they come from, director Amin said.
Amina Abdulkadir Mohamed, a jobless woman who was at De Martino recently to give birth, said she went there because she knew she would not be asked for money.
“I was told there is free medication,” she added.
Mohamed Adam Dini, who represents Somalia’s Puntland state in the national assembly, described the federal government’s priorities as “deficient” because of its overwhelming focus on ending “anarchy.”
“A lot of diseases have been spreading” unchecked, Dini said, adding: ”There is no national health care plan, as we don’t have a national political plan.”
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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In the Middle East: “Jordan’s air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the U.S. military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting.”
* At the Fed: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to hold its key interest rate steady but not without opposition from three officials who have expressed concern over inflation and wanted to hike. Despite increasing support among some officials for a rate increase, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 to leave the federal funds rate in a range between 3.5% and 3.75%.”
* All eyes on Cornyn: “Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has yet to decide whether he will vote to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanently head the Department of Justice after saying Wednesday he was ‘not prepared’ to lend his support to President Donald Trump’s nominee.”
* This request is intended to repay the National Park Service, whose funds Team Trump unjustly raided: “The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $10 million to cover costs related to Freedom 250 events recently held on the National Mall, including a prayer event, a fair and a fireworks show.”
* Will the Carroll case ever end? “The Supreme Court already denied the first of Donald Trump’s two petitions against E. Jean Carroll. But the second petition, filed Tuesday, stands a better chance of gaining the high court’s interest because it raises presidential immunity and is backed by the Justice Department.”
* I’m eager to hear why a private citizen can’t delete the contents of his own phone: “It sounds like something James Bond would use: a gadget that self-destructs if it falls into the wrong hands. But it’s actually an open-source operating system that can be downloaded onto Android phones. Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are bringing an obstruction charge against a U.S. citizen who gave customs officers what is known as a duress passcode, which activated software that erased the contents of his phone.”
* My advice: Read real books written entirely by real people: “A few years into the A.I. era, there is sobering evidence that a significant and growing portion of the novels being sold are written with or by chatbots, and that readers are buying them. A new study conducted by computer scientists using A.I. detection software to analyze thousands of self-published novels on Amazon, found that a substantial number of those novels contained chatbot-generated prose.”
See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse said Wednesday that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was “very condescending” toward them in their meeting with him this month and told them to “get to the point.”
Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on whether to move President Donald Trump’s nomination as attorney general to the full Senate for a vote, the survivors were on Capitol Hill urging Republican lawmakers to deny Blanche the position.
Survivor Dani Bensky told reporters that the meeting a couple of weeks ago with Blanche, who had declined to meet with them for months, was “very condescending” and that he would not answer their questions on why investigative leads and referrals in the case have not been followed.
“He actually said the words ‘Get to the point’ to us,” Benskey said. “We’re survivors who have been waiting to meet with him for nine months, eight months.”
Another survivor said Blanche told them he had not read the files.
Bensky, who was standing with other survivors outside the office of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, voiced appreciation for the senator for his support of survivors. The said they had not met with Cornyn Wednesday but had spoken to Judiciary Committee staff members, and that the meeting was “productive” and the staff members “were very pleasant and very open.”
Cornyn said Wednesday that he is “not prepared to vote yes” on Blanche’s nomination. He also called off a meeting with Blanche, saying the nominee had failed to provide proof that President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is officially dead.
Survivors have been campaigning for GOP holdouts to vote against Blanche’s confirmation. Bensky said her group had run into Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in the elevator earlier and that he said he would like to meet with them. Tillis has also suggested that he might oppose Blanche’s confirmation.
Bensky said it would have “a massive chilling effect to all survivors across the U.S.” if Blanche’s nomination is moved out of committee and to the full Senate.
Asked for the survivors’ final message to the lawmakers, Bensky said: “It’s not political. Just do the right thing. Just be on the right side of history.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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