African Countries Consider ‘Vice Taxes’ to Help Fill USAID Cuts

As Lesley-Ann Foster packs up her office in the South African coastal city of East London, putting years of patient records and funding applications into boxes, her mind wanders to the events that led up to this moment. There was the sudden closure of the United States Agency for International Development the previous January. The reduction in aid from European donors. The layoffs she was forced to enact in November. And finally, the holidays, when Masimanyane Women’s Rights International had to turn away roughly 300 survivors of sexual assault because there simply wasn’t enough staff to care for them.

Foster ...