The flag of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) outside their headquarters in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2025. The US government's giant humanitarian agency USAID on February 4, 2025, announced it was placing its staff in the United States and around the world on administrative leave as it moved to recall employees from overseas postings. (Photos by AFP)

President Donald Trump's decision to freeze foreign assistance has sent aid staff in Africa into "panic mode", with even HIV experimental treatment programmes stopped dead in their tracks.

Trump