Johns Hopkins University, a prestigious institution based in Baltimore, Maryland, has announced that it is laying off more than 2,000 employees due to significant cuts in foreign aid funding under the Trump administration. The move is a direct result of the termination of over $800 million in funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a critical source of financial support for various global health and humanitarian efforts.
"This is a difficult day for our entire community. The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally," the university stated in an official release.
The layoffs will impact 1,975 employees working on projects across 44 countries and 247 positions within the United States. The cuts are expected to severely affect several key university programs, including the renowned Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, and Jhpiego—a global health non-profit founded at the university more than five decades ago. Jhpiego’s work focuses on improving health in developing countries, particularly efforts to care for mothers and infants, fight disease, and provide clean drinking water.
"Johns Hopkins is immensely proud of the work done by our colleagues in Jhpiego, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine to care for mothers and infants, fight disease, provide clean drinking water, and advance countless other critical, life-saving efforts around the world," the statement continued.
This decision makes Johns Hopkins one of the universities most significantly impacted by the Trump administration’s reduction in foreign aid, which critics argue will have devastating effects on millions of people globally. The university, which receives roughly $1 billion annually from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is currently running 600 clinical trials and is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the cuts to federal research funding.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s executive order in January, which froze all U.S. foreign aid to allow for a review of overseas spending. USAID, which distributes humanitarian aid worldwide, operates health and emergency programs in approximately 120 countries.
The reduction in USAID funding is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to scale back foreign aid, a policy that critics argue will harm vulnerable populations across the globe.
