Legal Framework

Convention on the Rights of the Child — Article 24

Recognizes every child's right to the highest attainable standard of health and access to medical care, including combating disease and malnutrition, ensuring prenatal and postnatal care, and providing health education.

Related incidents

7 incidents

One Big Beautiful Bill: $1 Trillion in Medicaid Cuts and $295 Billion in SNAP Cuts

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashes $863 billion from Medicaid and $295 billion from SNAP to fund $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest, projected to strip healthcare from 10.9 million people …

  • The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes $863 billion in Medicaid cuts and $295 billion in SNAP cuts over fiscal years 2025-2034, exceeding …
  • The CBO projects 10.9 million Americans will become uninsured due to Medicaid losses and ACA marketplace coverage reductions.

Afghanistan Frozen Assets and Aid Termination: 22.9 Million Face Humanitarian Catastrophe

The combined effect of freezing Afghanistan's sovereign assets and terminating all US humanitarian aid has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in which millions face starvation. UN officials …

  • The United States and European nations froze nearly $9.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, …
  • In 2025, the Trump administration terminated all remaining US humanitarian aid to Afghanistan — $561.8 million — ordering an immediate …

HHS Dismantlement Under RFK Jr. Fuels Worst Measles Outbreak in 30 Years

RFK Jr.'s dismantlement of federal health agencies during an active measles crisis — including firing vaccine advisors, cutting thousands of positions, and clawing back billions — has resulted in the …

  • RFK Jr. ordered approximately 10,000 HHS layoffs in March 2025, on top of 10,000 voluntary departures, shrinking the workforce by roughly …
  • Over $12 billion in COVID-era public health infrastructure grants were clawed back — funding that had been supporting measles surveillance, …

Houthi FTO Redesignation Chills Humanitarian Operations for 19.5 Million Yemenis

The reimposition of FTO status on the Houthis threatens to deepen what was already the world's worst humanitarian crisis by chilling aid delivery, disrupting commercial imports, and creating legal …

  • On March 4, 2025, the State Department redesignated Ansarallah (Houthis) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, carrying criminal penalties …
  • Biden had revoked the FTO designation in February 2021 specifically because of its humanitarian impact, stating it was 'due entirely to the …

FDA Food Safety Collapse: 3,500+ Staff Cut and Outbreak Investigation Capacity Gutted

Mass layoffs at the FDA driven by the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated over 3,500 staff in 2025, causing foreign food safety inspections to drop by nearly half, outbreak investigations …

  • The FDA lost 3,859 employees in 2025 and 473 more in early 2026, driven by DOGE-mandated layoffs that included 70 outbreak investigators and …
  • Foreign food safety inspections fell by nearly half in March 2025 and remained approximately 30% lower through July compared to previous …

Deportation and Medical Neglect of Pregnant Women in ICE Custody

ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women in 13 months and recorded 16 miscarriages in detention. Women were shackled while miscarrying, denied prenatal care, and subjected to invasive …

  • 363 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing immigrants were deported between January 1, 2025 and February 16, 2026.
  • 16 miscarriages were recorded in ICE custody by late September 2025.

Systematic Dismantlement of USAID and Global Humanitarian Consequences

Systematic destruction of the US Agency for International Development resulted in termination of lifesaving programs across the developing world, with The Lancet projecting 9.4 million additional …

  • The Lancet projects 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030 as a direct result of the USAID dismantlement, making this potentially the single …
  • 23 million children lost access to education and 95 million people lost access to basic healthcare when USAID programs were terminated.