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Home Special Feature

Desperately seeking sustenance

Permanent or not, the sudden disappearance of U.S. aid has nongovernmental organizations in Thailand catering to some of the most vulnerable populations cutting back on operations – or ceasing them altogether.

Pravit RojanaphrukbyPravit Rojanaphruk
May 30, 2025
in Analysis, Articles, Asia, Special Feature, Thailand
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T

he international foundation he works for gets half of its funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), but the Bangkok-based U.S. expat said that very few Thais would be affected by the Trump administration’s recent freezing of U.S. aid. 

Thailand is already a middle-income, and not a net aid recipient country, he said. The expat added that Bangkok is used by USAID as a regional center to fund projects in the region. He pointed out as well that only two or three Thai staff from his organization have been made redundant as a result of Washington’s sudden decision to suspend aid.

There is some truth to what the U.S. expat said. Official U.S. government data show that for fiscal year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023), the latest with complete records, Thailand ranked ninth out of 24 countries in “East Asia and Oceania,” with U.S. aid disbursements to it reaching $28.3 million. Thailand’s top ODA (Official Development Assistance) donor as of 2022 was Japan, which gave $339 million; U.S. ODA for Thailand – $62.08 million — was not even a third of that amount.

Pattaya, with its bustling night life in January 2024, is one of the cities in Thailand hosting the Swing Foundation (Sex Workers in Group), an organization supported by USAID, which offers free HIV tests and basic healthcare for sex workers. (Photo: Shutterstock / Emad Aljumah)

But this doesn’t mean that the freeze on USAID funds that began nearly as soon as Donald Trump’s return to the White House has had little repercussions in Thailand. For non-profit organizations assisting HIV patients, LGBT communities, and those who fled the fighting and repression in Myanmar to Thailand especially, the impact has been considerable – and translates to probably devastating consequences for the people they help.

The effect of the U.S. aid freeze on Myanmar refugees in Thai-Myanmar border camps has at least been getting some media coverage, with some of it soon after the aid suspension was announced. This may be why Thailand’s Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin was prompted to say in late January that the government will take responsibility for the healthcare of the refugees.

The Bangkok Post also quoted him as saying, “We cannot just talk about refugees who have been affected by Mr. Trump’s policies. All kinds of healthcare and assistance must be provided to other groups of people who live in this country.”

Yet on March 7, or more than a month later, The Border Consortium, a Thailand-based NGO working for welfare of people who fled Myanmar into Thailand was posting on Facebook an urgent appeal for donations.

The post headlined “Emergency Appeal: Refugees Need Your Help Now!” read: 

“Due to funding suspensions, The Border Consortium (TBC) can no longer guarantee food support for refugees. 108,000 refugees in nine border camps are at immediate risk. They rely entirely on external food support, and without urgent funding, they face a precarious and unstable future. Just $186 feeds, houses, and supports one refugee for an entire year. Every dollar makes a difference. Please consider supporting refugees.”

Sources:  The Border Consortium, The Border Consortium – Statement, ECO-Asia, La Croix International, Associated Press, The New Humanitarian, The Pinnacle Gazette, Channel News Asia, Office of Instructor General USAID, CNN, USAID in Southeast Asia: A Year of Impact in 2024

According to TBC, 100 percent of the donations would go directly into buying food and fuel for the refugees.

An education and childcare center catering to refugees from Myanmar, meanwhile, may shut down soon. Joy House 2, located in the Thai-Myanmar border province of Mae Hong Son, is funded solely by USAID, an expat working with the organization told Asia Democracy Chronicles (ADC) in early March. 

“We are facing closure,” said the expat, who is from the United States. “We’re moving small funds from our Mae Sod Joy House center as a temporary stop gap while we look for funding.”

At-risk populations in trouble

A March 5 article published by the Irrawaddy, a pro-democracy Myanmar online media based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, has also noted that Myanmar’s civic space has been shrinking after the USAID fund suspension, which has also affected Myanmar groups based in Thailand.

“As salaries disappear, organizations are losing skilled labor,” said the Irrawaddy article. “Employees are taking on side jobs to survive, which has reduced the workforce in the civic space. In key areas such as Chiang Mai and Mae Sot, the impact is particularly severe. Clinics and refugee camps that relied on aid have halted medical treatment and food distribution, leaving displaced people in dire straits.”

Children at a shelter near the border in Tak province in northern Thailand are among those deeply affected by the USAID fund freeze, cutting off support on feeding programs, healthcare, and education and childcare. (Photo: Shutterstock / PAAOF007)

Groups and organizations working on communities that receive less media coverage are not faring any better. Surang Janyam, executive director of Swing Foundation (Sex Workers in Group) told ADC that following the U.S. aid suspension, 30 percent of its funding disappeared. A month and a half on, she said that the foundation is still trying its best to keep afloat. 

The organization, based in Bangkok and Pattaya, offers free HIV tests and basic medication to sex workers. Many of them are Thai, but there are also sex workers from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The non-Thais are exposed to more risks because, Surang explained, Thailand grants them less rights than its citizens. 

According to Surang, it normally takes one month after a person tests positive for HIV before free treatment, including medicines, from the Thai healthcare system becomes available. But that, she said, is only if you are Thai. Surang said that even if they work in Thailand, non-Thai sex workers do not enjoy free healthcare and would have to pay or seek the help of NGOs.

Surang declined to give the exact amount Swing Foundation was receiving annually from USAID, but she confirmed that it ran into millions of baht. She said that 93 Swing personnel have been told to expect smaller salaries because of the aid freeze. Surang is currently discussing possible additional funding with the French embassy in Bangkok (France was Thailand’s third largest ODA donor in 2022). She admitted, however, that the amount they might get may not offset the lost funding from USAID, which had had a two-decade relationship with Swing. 

“I’m not mad at USAID,” Surang told ADC. “(But) the Thai government – the Public Health Ministry — must quickly step in.” 

Calling on Bangkok

Kritima Samitpol is also waiting for the Thai government to extend some help to USAID’s fund orphans like her organization, the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok. So far, she said, there is no clarity yet if and when it will do it.

The non-profit IHRI offers free HIV testing for transgender people. Kritima, clinic supervisor at IHRI, said around 30 to 40 percent of its funding came from USAID. With the aid freeze, the IHRI office at Chamchuri Building in Bangkok has been shut to save money, with the staff told to work from home. Only the clinic at the building is still operating, but IHRI now has to charge people who come for the services.

The HIV/AIDS sector ranked second among the top recipients of aid disbursements from USAID in fiscal year 2023, as well as in 2024 (based on incomplete data). The U.S. State Department defines disbursements as “amounts paid by federal agencies, by cash or cash equivalent, during the fiscal year to liquidate government obligations.” 

In fiscal year 2025, USAID disbursements in Thailand have so far reached $6.643 million, with the government and civil society sector receiving nearly a third of that amount ($2.12 million), followed by basic education ($1.559 million), and HIV/AIDS ($1.419 million). 

USAID obligations – “binding agreements that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future”– in Thailand for this fiscal year currently total some $5.98 million, of which $2.775 million are meant for the government and civil society sector, and $2.19 million for HIV/AIDS.

IHRI’s Kritima said that they had obviously not expected to need help from the Thai government, but now they “expect a lot” from it.

Still, she indicated that they have learned an important lesson. 

“Whether USAID funding will return or not,” said Kritima, “we have to seek to become self-reliant, (so that we are ready) no matter what disruption we may face.” ◉

Pravit Rojanaphruk, a long-time advocate of press freedom, is a columnist and senior staffwriter at Khaosod English.

Tags: AnalysisPublic diplomacyPublic governanceThailand
Pravit Rojanaphruk

Pravit Rojanaphruk

Pravit Rojanaphruk, a long-time advocate of press freedom, is a columnist and senior staff writer at Khaosod English.

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