ActionAid International’s new report highlights human costs of austerity on health and education
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Article summary
Report calls on the IMF, among other actors, to take immediate actions to address the dire situation of public services under austerity.
A new report by ActionAid international, titled The Human Cost of Public Sector Cuts in Africa, analysed austerity impacts on health and education in six Sub-Saharan African countries. The research, conducted via interviews and focus groups with 616 individuals in rural and urban locations, highlighted that these cuts are placing the burden on individuals, with women and girls suffering most. It found teachers across Africa lost up to half of their income over the last five years, while 97 per cent of surveyed health workers said their wages aren’t enough to cover food, electricity and household expenses.
Alongside worsening global economic growth prospects, higher cost of capital and debt pressures (see Observer Spring 2025) – aggravated by ongoing official development assistance cuts – international financial institutions including the IMF keep pushing countries towards austerity (see Observer Autumn 2024, Summer 2024), diminishing countries’ capacity to comply with their human rights obligations, and respond to their citizens’ basic needs. Austerity is also linked to increased political and social instability, as the IMF itself has recognised.
“The debt crisis and the IMF’s insistence to cut public services in favour of debt repayments have severely hindered investments in healthcare and education across Africa,” said Andrew Mamedu of ActionAid Nigeria. “In 2024, Nigeria allocated only 4% of national revenue to health, while a staggering 20.1% went to debt repayments. This is not only absurd but unsustainable in the long run, while the debt burden falls on those most marginalised – once again. This must end. The lives of millions depend on it,” he added.
