New Delhi, July 2 -- Former US Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have criticised President Donald Trump's decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID), warning the move will cause millions of avoidable deaths and damage America's global standing.

The former Presidents spoke in recorded messages played for USAID staff on Monday (June 30), the agency's final day as an independent organisation after six decades of operation.

A new Lancet study estimated the sweeping cuts could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including over 4 million children.

"Unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths...